The Vincentio II
by Seth Destrucdos de Mardio
Summary: Val is the great, great granddaughter of Nicolette McDaniel but they appear to be the same person. To most people Nicolette was no one but to Damon she was more than that. But when she disappeared without giving Damon or even Stefan a reason for leaving this affected Damon greatly. Now that Damon has come back to Mystic Falls will he want to hurt Val because of Nicolette? Damon/OC
1. The Introduction to My Life

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter One**

**The Introduction to My Life**

_**AN: I sort of got writers block on my other story so I started this one, don't worry if you like the other one I'm still working on it. Sorry in advance if the whole jumping from Point Of View to Point Of View is annoying. Enjoy!  
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_Val's POV…_

I have been living in Mystic Falls for two years and I could tell you that those two years have been the best in my life but I would sort of be lying. Granted I didn't have to put up with living in a small town with my ex-boyfriend but life here wasn't as grand as I thought it would be when we first came here.

To tell you the truth the first year and a half were great until my brother, James, died six months ago. I've been having trouble without him around. See we weren't just brother and sister. We were best buds. Friends for life even partners in crime. I also haven't had the best luck with friends because any friends I had made I lost when my brother died because I just happened to block them out. That was until I became friends with Jeremy after his parents died.

We are pretty much in the same boat. We are practically best friends now. My relationship with Jeremy pisses Elena off because I'm a year older than her so she believes I have bad intentions for her brother and I honestly don't.

I'm eighteen and my name is Val McDaniel. Val is my nickname and has been my whole life. Technically it's the name that everyone uses because I refused to tell people my real name because it's weird, stupid, rare and completely messed up. My mother was the one to name me and I'm pretty sure she just did it to make my life hell. So I have made an agreement with my parents that they can never use my real name even if they are angry at me.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

I shouldn't have come home. I know the risk, but I had no choice. I have to know her. The only problem is I'm not sure which one. I don't know if I should risk it and get to know the girl I save or the girl that used to be my friend.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I rode my skateboard towards Jeremy's house. I lived quite a distance from his house that's why I was riding my skateboard. When I reached his house I jumped off my skateboard and waited on the footpath near the mailbox. I refused to go inside because Elena and I weren't friends or even close to that.

Elena hated me and I was cool with that because I didn't like her that much either. Before my brother died we used to talk to each other slightly because I was good friends with Caroline. But since I am older than Caroline and Elena it wasn't a whole lot. After my brother died I refused to talk to anyone and when Jeremy's parents died I knew – even though she had never said it out loud – that she blamed me for the way Jeremy was acting now.

Jeremy came down the patio stairs and walked towards me. He smiled in the corner of his mouth before we started towards school. We obviously took the long route.

I would skateboard ahead then stop and wait for Jeremy to catch up before I skateboarded some more. This continued until we neared the school. I stopped skateboarding and walked beside Jeremy. This is when we started chatting.

"Why don't you drive like everyone else your age?" Jeremy asked.

"With driving there is too much to worry about. So many things to think about, I have no problem with it, I can drive. It's just my mother will expect me to drive her everywhere if I start driving to school. Plus I find skateboarding more fun and I can piss teachers off with that," I replied.

My soul goal for this year was to not only graduate but to piss off as many of my teachers as I could. It's the small things in life that count, to me anyway. Plus it was my final year at this school and hopefully this town. I wanted to go out with a bang.

"So are you going to the back-to-school party at the falls?" Jeremy asked.

"Are you joking?" I asked pretending that I wouldn't be caught dead at that party. "Of course I'll be there. Alcohol and night time, I can get drunk and hide behind trees and scare drunk people to death," I added.

"If I knew when we first met that you were into dark things and scaring people I would have walked away."

"I'm surprised that the fact that we met in a cemetery didn't give that away for you."

"In fact we met at The Grill," Jeremy attempted to correct me.

"I guess but the first time we talked to each other was in the cemetery if I'm not mistaken," I replied.

"If you count talking to each other as a first time meeting," he replied still trying to prove that he was right.

"Well if you count staring at me for three hours at The Grill one night as a first time meeting then you win," I replied.

Jeremy just stopped talking after that.

So you don't get confused or anything. The first time I saw Jeremy was at The Grill. He was eating dinner with his parents. This was a month or two before his parents died. I was there eating with my mother who didn't want to make anything for dinner because she wasn't a very good cook.

Anyway he was staring at me for the obvious reason. Why did I look so out of place all of a sudden? That was shortly after the death of my brother. The funny thing was I didn't even know who Jeremy was until then. I had never met or saw him before then. But I had heard Elena talking about him but that was about it.

Back to what I was talking about, he was staring at me all night. I of course was watching him from the corner of my eye. I think I noticed his sister notice at some point or something, not that I cared.

The day we actually talked to each other was a couple days after his parent's funeral. I was at the cemetery. I was avoiding home and visiting my brother. We ran into each other, well I tripped over one of those really small headstones which wasn't the first time. I tripped and almost landed on him. He was sitting on the ground facing his parent's graves. It was kind of sad but I didn't care that much to care. Eventually we started talking and things went on from there.

I know Elena thinks I have bad intentions planned for her brother but I really don't. Because that's really gross and I don't care that sort of thing anymore. Plus even if I was into that sort of thing, which I'm not, he's with Vicki, I think. It's all too confusing for me.

See after my brother died I was no longer into chasing hot boys and sex like any normal eighteen year old teenage girl was. I spent the sixth months between his death and now alone. I would chill in my room, piss of people, avoid my father who was an ass for his surprise visits and spend time in cemeteries but I loved to chill with Vicki Donovan and her friends. I know the last one isn't really on my own but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't remember me so clearly anyway, so that's close enough. Man how did I end up talking about this?

Later that morning I was sitting with Jeremy when Vicki came over. Vicki and I had an odd relationship. I'm simply calling it drug buddies. If I had drugs she was hanging around me and if she had drugs I was hanging around her.

"Don't take more than two in a six hour window," Jeremy warned as Vicki threw the drugs down her throat.

Tyler came over practically jumping into the conversation and I mean jumping.

"Hey Vick, I knew I would find you here with the crack heads," Tyler said as he looked at Jeremy and I.

I gave him the finger after I passed Jeremy the cigarette we were sharing.

"Hey," Vicki said.

"Pete Wentz wants his nail polish back," Tyler said to Jeremy.

"Pete Wentz, huh, how old-school TRL of you," Jeremy said. "Carson Daly fan," Jeremy asked.

I just smiled.

"Whoa, Ty, be nice. That's Elena's little brother," Vicki said.

"Yeah Ty, be nice," I said.

"I know who he is, I'll still kick his ass," Tyler replied. "And yours," Tyler warned me.

"As if," I mumbled to myself.

Tyler and Vicki kissed each other in front of Jeremy. I knew Jeremy didn't like them being together but he just sat there in silence.

"You should really find better friends, Val," Tyler said.

"And you should piss off, Layla," I replied.

Tyler's face filled with anger. He hated that name so much. Long story short, which really isn't very short, I was trying to find a girl's name to call him one day and as I was calling them out they had no effect on him until I said Layla and he turned around to tell me to shut up. Since he responded to that name I technically made it his name. I got a lot of the school going on it for about a week until the mayor came to the school and talked to the headmaster who in turn talked to me. I'm supposed to stop calling Tyler, Layla, because it is a form of bullying. Of course it's a form of bullying what else could it be. Anyway now I just do it to piss him off and shut him up.

This is one of those situations that I'm glad only people know my nickname and think it's my real name. If Tyler knew it wasn't my real name he would go to great lengths to find out my real name to use it against me. Sure my real name isn't that bad like Wolfgang, which is practically two words joined together. Anyway it just had no meaning here, in America. Because of that it's odd, uncommon and rare here as well. I'm the only one I know who has it. There aren't even any famous people with my name. well technically I haven't checked but I know for sure that there are no famous people – I know off the top of my head – with my name.

Before classes started I was skateboarding through some of the corridors of the school with Jeremy not far behind me. I was heading towards my locker and Jeremy said he was going to go to the men's bathroom. I knew he was hoping to avoid his sister.

Since my locker wasn't that far from the men's bathroom I knew that I made it to my locker because he made it to the men's bathroom. Before I opened my locker I noticed Elena and Bonnie standing together. She was totally going to notice Jeremy so I guess his luck today wasn't so good.

I opened my locker and looked at my books that sat inside. I wasn't going to bother with books today or any day. I grabbed my leather jacket and slit it on over the top of my dark hoodie I was already wearing. I don't know why I was wearing a hoodie and a leather jacket but it felt comfortable to me.

I stood by my locker waiting for either Jeremy or the bell. Since Jeremy and I weren't the same age we clearly didn't have any classes together but we liked to go to each other's classes from time to time to avoid our classes for as long as we could.

Eventually Jeremy came up to me. I also noticed that after he came out of the men's bathroom his came out of the bathroom as well. Like that wasn't weird. I shook my head at that because I didn't understand how she thought she would be able to change anything.

"We are going to your class," Jeremy said before he practically dragged me in the opposite direction of Elena.

As he dragged me away from that area of the corridor I noticed Elena talking someone new. From this angle I couldn't see his face if I really wanted too.

"Okay, but I'm walking with you to your next class," I said when he let go of my wrist.

"History," he asked.

"Yep," I replied.

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**_AN: Before I wrote this I knew that I had to make another founding family because it was important for the story later. There are a lot of things about The McDaniel Family that aren't mentioned in this chapter and won't be mentioned for a long time. Something that must likely will never mentioned is the fact that the McDaniel family originated from Scotland like the Salvatore family originated from Italy. Elena has her issues with Val because I didn't want to have them as friends. I wanted to write something different to all the fan fics about someone that moves to town and instantly becomes friends with Elena, Caroline and Bonnie. When Val fist moved to Mystic Falls she did become friends with Caroline easily because they were both cheerleaders but other than that she had no friendship with Elena. She knew who Elena and Bonnie were and had nothing against them until her brother James died. James was the older protective brother; he would always look after Val even if sometimes it wasn't the best choice._**


	2. My American History Class

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Two**

**My American History Class**

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_Val's POV…_

As Jeremy and I headed towards my maths class I jumped on my skateboard and started to skateboard until a teacher called out.

"Miss McDaniel," they warned.

I hopped of my skateboard and picked it up with my right hand.

"God, I get it," I complained with looking back at them.

At that moment we were still in the same corridor as Elena and probably her friends. I wouldn't be surprised if they heard me and I didn't care if they did.

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_Stefan's POV…_

After compelling the lady in the office I headed towards the men's bathroom. I wasn't completely sure why I was going there aside from the obvious which I really didn't need to do. I was going to check if I could keep my cool in this school. It was a challenge but I think it was going pretty well.

As I headed towards the bathroom I could hear a couple of girls following me. This didn't matter to me because there was only one girl in this that I was concerned about. Well that was if what I had seen four months ago wasn't real and just my head messing with me.

Elena stepped out of the men's bathroom and ran into me. I didn't have a problem with this because she wasn't strong enough to knock me down and I sort of knew/guessed she was in there. For what reason I wasn't sure and it didn't matter.

"Uh, pardon me," I said. "Is this to the men's room?" I asked.

"Yes. I was just… I was just… it's a long story," she replied.

After an awkward attempt to get past each other she said thank you and walked off towards her class.

I watched as she walked around the corner into another corridor. She looked back at me at the same time. She was beautiful just like Katherine but completely different. As I stood there after Elena left my view I couldn't help but hear a teacher calling out to another student.

Normally this wouldn't bother me but the name the teacher said was a name that I hadn't heard in Mystic Falls since 1860 and it was name I had wished I wouldn't hear.

"Miss McDaniel," a teacher warned.

I turned to see if I could see who they were talking too.

The McDaniel family was a small family that lived in Mystic Falls around 1860. They were a founding family much like my own but since they disappeared in 1861 they weren't really a big founding family. I don't even know what happened to the family at the time and I'm pretty sure my father didn't know either. It was as if they disappeared one night. Over time I discovered the truth about vampire being real and it was less of a mystery of why they disappeared and more of how they disappeared. Were they killed or turned?

As I looked down the corridor I couldn't see her face but I had glimpsed it before this day. They had the golden brown hair – a golden brown I have only seen once in my lifetime and a golden down I will never forget – they also wore a black leather jacket and rode a skateboard.

"God, I get it," they replied without even turning in my direction.

The voice was the same, but different. I think it was the fact that it was the modern slang and the way of talking. But there was also something different about the voice, something I couldn't pick up on from that small amount of spoken words.

If a vampire could feel, I felt a chill travel up my spine. This couldn't be good. Not only will Elena be a problem if Damon found out if he followed me which was highly likely when he found out about Elena. I had no idea how he was going to react when his first human love, his first human crush was living and breathing in the same town and possibly a vampire.

He wouldn't talk to me about her even though she was a close friend to me. I don't think he ever talked to anyone about her after she disappeared. He was heartbroken and this eventually made him join the war. When he came back he came back different. But I knew that her disappearance still affected him and now things would be worse.

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_Val's POV…_

I rode my skateboard to my maths class but I walked the last couple of metres with Jeremy before we split ways at the door to my maths class. I walked into the class. I was probably the second last person to walk into the classroom but I didn't care about that. I sat in the same seat as last time. I sat in the darkest corner of the room and as far as I could get from the front. I had to sit up the front in history I wasn't going to do it in maths.

Maths wasn't so bad. I didn't pay attention to what was being said because I never cared enough to listen. After class I found Jeremy waiting not far from the door to my maths class. I was a little surprised he even turned up. I figured he would have given up on the day by now.

We headed towards his class and after we reached his class we split up and I headed towards my American history class with Mr Tanner. I should probably tell you that I was kept down for history because I suck at it and I hate it. So the school decided to place me in a history class with the worst teacher to teach me a lesson. I'm not totally sure but I have a feeling that the mayor or somebody high up told the school to do it because I'm meant to be a descendent from one the founding families. Plus this would be a way for the mayor to get back at me for the Tyler/Layla incident.

Getting to Mr Tanner's class was easy, skateboard and all. For some strange odd reason I got there nearly on time. I had avoided getting on time for two reasons, Mr Tanner and Elena. Since I got kept down for this class I was stuck with Elena and a couple of her friends that was the worst part of this class. I could deal with Mr Tanner but Elena was something I was going to have trouble with, especially with her staring at me all the time. Yeah it happens because I'm up the front. Mr Tanner put me there on the first day. He thought that by putting me at the front I would learn more. I'm telling you the truth when I say that it gave me more reasons to ignore him.

I skated right up to the door before getting off and walking into Mr Tanner's class.

"Later as normal," Mr Tanner said as he stopped his teaching.

"Better late than never," I replied.

I actually believed never was better than ever but hey it was either come to this and piss of Elena or don't come to this class and give Elena want she wanted. Option one sounded more fun.

As I walked into the classroom I held my skateboard in my left hand and as I walked I brought my right hand up to my face and mockingly waved to Elena by only moving my fingers. She wasn't to kind on the idea of sharing a class with me so I annoy her on a regular basis. Doing it in front of other students and teacher was the best time to do it too. If no one was watching it wasn't fun, unless it was videotaped and put on YouTube. But then people wouldn't understand what was going on.

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_Stefan's POV…_

I sat there in Mr Tanner's class thinking about the girl who I had seen in the corridor on the skateboard. Her name used to be Nicolette back in 1860, Nicolette McDaniel. I was more interested in her than Elena at that moment. But right when my train of thought went back to Elena she came into the classroom. She appeared to be eighteen which was a year older than the age I appeared and because of this I was a little confused to why she was in this class.

"Late as normal," Mr Tanner said.

"Better late than never," she said before walking into the class further.

She mockingly waved at Elena and I could tell that Elena had a strong dislike of this girl. The girl – that I was pretty sure was Nicolette but I couldn't be sure – sat two seats in front of Elena in the front row.

During the rest of the class I couldn't help stare at Elena and Nicolette. I really don't feel comfortable calling her that for some reason. Most of the time I spent staring at Miss McDaniel who sat, well sloped in her chair. She clearly didn't like being here and that could have been a good reason to call her a vampire. But if she was why hadn't she compelled her way out of this class.

* * *

_Elena's POV…_

I looked back at the mystery new guy. He was hot and cute. But when I looked back at him he was staring at Val McDaniel. I don't like her so much because of her influence on my brother and her plans with him. Plus she was very odd and didn't fit in well. She shouldn't even be in this class. Whose idea was it to put her in this class?

I turned back to the front of the class because I didn't want to think about Val or the new guy anymore. That was until I got a text from Bonnie.

_Hawt-e staring U_, it read.

I smiled at the text message. He was only looking at Val so I didn't catch him looking at me. This made me smile for the rest of class even though Val was still in the class.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

After history I decided to leave school, I had enough and I went to the only place I could be alone, the cemetery.

I don't have anything against cemeteries or dead people. They can't do anything and I no longer believe in zombies. I liked cemeteries because they were quiet and there was a creepy atmosphere which I liked a lot.

Another reason was because of my mother. She wouldn't come in here on her own free will so I was safe here if I ever wanted to get away. The only time she came in here was for James' funeral and that was it, she didn't even stay that long. I really don't see the problem people had with cemeteries.

I found myself standing in front of James' grave and even though it should have given me a chill or something it didn't, it never had.

"You shouldn't be here," someone said from behind me.

I didn't know the voice so I didn't know who the person was.

I turned around the see the new guy standing there. School was still in so it was odd to see the new guy out of school. I did the same thing on my first day two years ago but that's just me and my brother decided to show me around town. Normal people like him from the looks of it didn't do this sort of thing.

"As far as I know it's not illegal to walk around a cemetery while school is in," I replied. "Wait is it illegal? That would be pretty stupid if it was, imagine that," I said drifting off.

"I don't think it is," he said before shaking his head. "I meant in the town not the cemetery," he said.

"Okay I'm officially on your side, you're telling me that I can't be in this town, right?" I asked as he nodded. "Because I've been telling my mother the same thing for six months now, the bitch doesn't know how to," I paused. "Wait, why are you here? In the cemetery I mean," I asked.

"Well, I came to talk to you," he said.

"So you're stalking me, god, I thought I was weird but hey here's the new guy that likes to stalk people," I said.

* * *

_**AN: I am planning to change the show a little or a lot because I'm not going to have Damon attracted to Elena but to Val because she looks just like Nicolette McDaniel.**_


	3. James' Necklace

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Three**

**James' Necklace**

_**AN: I'm sorry for the wait there really isn't much of an excuse and I may have forgotten about this, so I'm uploading two chapters just for you guys. Enjoy!**_

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_Val's POV…_

He didn't say anything which wasn't that odd.

"So I'm Val McDaniel," I said as I held out my hand.

"Stefan Salvatore," he said as he shook my hand.

"Well if you don't mind I would like to go back to avoiding my mother for the rest of the day Mr Salvatore," I said as I started to walk away from my brother's grave.

"If you don't mind me asking Miss McDaniel, where are you from? I mean where you were born?" he asked as he followed me.

I didn't have anything against him following me or asking me where I was born.

"New York, but apparently I'm a descendent from one of the founding families of this town," I said. "Not that anyone really cares."

"Well being a descendent from one of the founding families is important, especially yours," Stefan said.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I slowed my walking.

"Well your family name hasn't been seen in Mystic Falls since the early 1860's, most believed that everyone was killed which means that you should even be here," Stefan said.

"How do you know all that," I asked.

"I read a lot," he replied. "I should really get back to school," he said.

"That you should, you don't want to go down the same road I did, look where that ended up. Two years later and I'm talking with the new guy in a cemetery," I said.

"You're very odd."

"I get that a lot."

Shortly after that Stefan left and headed back to school as far as I could tell. He was probably going to get in trouble for leaving, unless he had a spare. I didn't have to deal with that until I got home that day and went back to school on the second day because I never went back on the first day. It was a little odd that Stefan would skip school to talk to me and warn me or tell me that I shouldn't be here in this town, not the cemetery. I tried getting my mother to move us back to New York after James' death. At that point in time I would rather deal with my ex-boyfriend who would want to get back together than stay in this town. But it didn't work so I have decided that if I was going to live here that I was going to make the most out of it. I mean by skipping school as much as possible and having as much as fun as I could.

When school ended I headed home. I didn't want to go home until school had officially ended because that way I would have at least a fifty/fifty chance for getting away with not being at school. But I knew the school would have called my mother. See I live with my mother and that's it. After my brother died my parent's just couldn't stay together. Sure my dad visits like twice a month but they don't live together and they are divorced. The odd thing is I thought that as soon as the divorce papers were signed and everything that I wouldn't see my father ever again but no such thing happened.

As soon as I stepped through the front door of my mother's house I was greeted by my father. This was a shock to me because he only visited us on weekends and today was a Monday.

"Hand it over," he said as he held out his right hand.

"Hand what over," I asked.

I knew what he was talking about but I wanted to drag this out as long as I could.

"You know what I mean," he replied.

"Do I?" I asked.

"Stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?" I asked.

"Stop asking questions every time I say something," he said as he crossed his arms.

Now I had him right where I wanted him. He had forgotten about the drugs and was more distracted by our conversation.

"Don't you want to know where I was all day?" I asked distracting him even more.

"Where did you go today?" he asked trying to take control of this conversation.

"Around town," I said before I walked past him and down the hallway.

I continued to walk even though he was yelling at me to stop. Once at the end of the long hallway – there are two hallways; the other one is just shorter – I found myself in the open plan kitchen/dining/lounge area like a normal Monday. My mother was standing in the kitchen area by the island bench with a disappointed look on her face. It was just the normal Monday afternoon, aside from my father being here.

I walked past the lounge area towards the dining/kitchen part of the room. I walked between the dining table and kitchen island bench to a door which was right next to the kitchen, but not in it. This door went to the master bedroom, my bedroom. My parents didn't like big things and this used to my brother's room until he died. By the time I decided to move into the room my parents were separated and my mother didn't like big rooms because they made her feel empty. So she just stayed in the bedroom that was pretty much next to the bathroom.

I opened the door and stepped into my bedroom before shutting the door behind myself. I could hear my parents arguing in the kitchen well technically it was my father talking/yelling at my mother. For some reason he cared a little too much about me. It was weird since my parents were divorced. If you break up you're not meant to care so much. Unless they wanted you to move in with them and my father didn't want that at all, it was as if he was protecting me from something. There was something he wasn't telling me and I had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that my family hasn't been back here since 1860 like Stefan said.

I threw my bag onto the floor at the end of my bed. I don't know why I brought the bag that day because I didn't use it all day. I should have tossed it into my locker.

I went about hiding my drugs. I didn't care where because I knew my father or mother would raid my room again anyway. I wish they would just leave me to get over this on my own because the way they are going about it just makes it worse. When they try to cut of my supply by raiding my room I get more and if they try to tell me off I ignore them.

After hiding the drugs I fell forwards onto my queen sized bed. Normally doing this it would be comfortable but today it felt a little painful because of the item on the necklace around my neck. The item pushed into my chest rather hard because I laid on it on the wrong angle.

I rolled over, sat up and pulled the object in question out from under my shirt. I eventually pulled the entire necklace over my head. It was bigger than any other necklace I had worn in the past. Even though the chain necklace was very girly and thin I had gotten it from my brother who used to wear it.

On the chain was a small whistle about ten centimetres in length. It was very similar to a normal dog whistle and when I blew it I could never hear anything. The only difference between a normal dog whistle and this whistle was the design. A normal whistle was just one straight piece of metal but this had layers and carvings all over it and it had a small cylinder shaped bloodstone in the middle. It was odd like me and that's why I liked it. I never asked James where he got it from because I never cared to ask. He used to tell me that it would always protect me if I was ever in trouble. All I had to do was blow the whistle and all the bad would disappear. When I was younger I believed this but now I didn't believe it at all. It was only a story James used to tell me. The only reason why I keep it is because of my brother. It was his and it is the only thing that I have left that has real meaning to me.

I place the necklace back around my neck. I hardly ever took the necklace off unless I was safe inside or somewhere where there weren't people because I didn't want to lose it and I'm pretty sure someone could get a fair amount of money for it. I lied back down facing the ceiling, the all-white ceiling. There was nothing interesting about it. I had thought about putting a poster up there but I couldn't think or decided on what I should put up there. My interests would change for sure once I put the poster up and I didn't want to put up a simple skull poster because it was too simple.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

I was wrong about her. She isn't the girl I remember, but she looks just like the girl I remember. There was something different about her and even if she was a vampire and a very good actor I don't think it would have been that. There was something different about his girl and the girl Damon was in love with when he was human. But this meant Val was in danger because if I knew Damon like I knew him he would let out all and any anger he had on Val because of what Nicolette did. As far as I know Nicolette's disappearance broke Damon's heart and Damon must have a lot of anger and emotion built up from that so having Val who looks just like Nicolette around might be dangerous not only for herself but for everyone in the town. I had no idea how Damon was going to react to this.

Later that night after meeting Elena and her friends at The Grill I came home back to The Salvatore Boarding house to find Val sitting alone in the library. I was slightly confused.

"Val," I asked.

She was looking down at something on a chain around her neck. She quickly placed it under her shirt before she looked up at me.

"Oh hey Stefan," she said.

I wasn't sure what to ask. I just walked further into the room. She must have noticed that I was sort of speechless.

"My mother is friends with Zach and she refused to leave me at home on my own," she said.

"Okay," I replied softly. "So do you do this often?" I asked.

"Not really, I have been here before but this practically the only room I've seen. I wouldn't be surprised if I got lost," she replied.

"I didn't know that your mother was friends with Zach."

"Yeah well I don't know if they are friends because that's their thing and as far as I know they are book buddies and that it," she said.

"Okay."

"So is Zach like family?" she asked as I came towards the lounge in the room.

"He's my uncle," I said as I sat on the lounge while she remained in the armchair.

"Is he your only family?" she asked.

I didn't reply because I didn't want to talk about Damon for so many reasons.

"It's cool if you don't want to talk about them," she said.

I just smiled weakly. I was getting the feeling that she had family she didn't like to talk about either.

We spent about ten minutes talking to each other about nothing in particular, because he both kept changing topics. Zach and her mother came into the room after the ten minutes. I was introduced to her mother who seemed a little confused that we were talking. I'm guessing she didn't expect anyone else to be living here.

Eventually Val and her mother left. Nothing really happened until I was in my room and Zach came up to talk to me.

"You promised," he said as he held out a newspaper.

"This was an animal attack," I replied after I looked at the headline.

"Don't give me that, I know that game, you tear them up enough and they suspect an animal attack, you said you had it under control," Zach said.

"And I do," I replied.

"Please, uncle Stefan, Mystic Falls is a different place now, it's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember," he said. "People who know," he whispered. "And you being here it's just gonna stir things up," Zach finished.

"That's not my intention."

"Then what is, why did you come back after all this time? Why now?"

"I don't have to explain myself," I replied starting to get annoyed that Zach was questioning me.

"I know that you can't change what you are, but you don't belong here anymore."

"Where do I belong?" I asked.

"I can't tell you what to do, but coming back here was a mistake," Zach said before he threw the newspaper onto my bed.

He left shortly after that.

I remained standing where I was until I couldn't help but think about Elena and Val. I walked over to one of the many cupboards in my rooms and I opened the doors of the cupboard to reveal al my journals. I reached in and grabbed one of the journals. It wasn't the journal that was important but what was inside the journal.

Inside the journal was a picture of Katherine dated 1864. Elena looked just like Katherine and that was the main reason why I came back to Mystic Falls until I noticed Val. Underneath the picture of Katherine was a picture of another woman. Nicolette date 1860. Val looked just like Nicolette but as I started at the picture of Nicolette I noticed that Nicolette had dark coloured eyes while Val had silver white eyes. If Damon ever found out that I had this picture he would hurt me or worse. After he was turned into a vampire he came back to Mystic Falls to destroy the vervain and every known picture of Nicolette expect this one I had because he didn't know about it.

* * *

_**AN: James' necklace/whistle is The Vincentio II, but that isn't revealed until a long time later because no one really knows that she has it and no one knows anything about aside from one person.**_


	4. She Didn't Even Care

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Four**

**She Didn't Even Care**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

Mr Tanner's American history class what more can I saw. I knew history was boring but this was torture. Listening to what Mr Tanner was saying was worse than real torture.

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls," Mr Tanner said before I yawned. "It would do you good to listen, Miss McDaniel," he warned.

"So I've heard. I highly doubt the school will or could make me come back next year for this class," I replied.

Mr Tanner would always tell me to pay attention and I would always say I've heard that before.

"How many casualties resulted in this battle then Miss McDaniel," Mr Tanner asked.

"I don't know and I don't care," I replied.

"Fine, Miss Bennett," he asked directing his question to Bonnie.

I turned around to look back at Bonnie while she answered the question.

"Um, a lot, I'm not sure," she replied. "But like a whole lot," she added.

I smiled at this.

I don't even know why I turned around. I think it was because I wanted to look at Stefan which I did. He must have noticed because he looked at me. Neither of smiled because someone else would notice and I didn't really want to give Tyler a reason to get back at me. I hated new people and I would not socialise with them. So since hanging around Stefan is like something I wouldn't do I knew Tyler would find some way of using it against me. Technically Stefan wasn't new since he used to live here but he's new now and new to me.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett," Mr Tanner said as I turned back to the front.

I sat there trying not to think about Stefan. So I started to wonder why Mr Tanner called all the students by their last names. I didn't have anything against it because my nickname wasn't normal and I didn't want to give people a reason to think about it.

"Mr Donovan, would you like to take this opportunity to over your imbedded jock stereotype?" Mr Tanner asked.

"It's okay Mr Tanner, I'm okay with it," Matt replied.

I was still facing the front at this time I couldn't help laugh a little when everyone started laughing. Laughing was something I wouldn't have done before I met Stefan but things were changing and quickly. The only times I laughed before Stefan came to town was when I was drunk or high or both.

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting the local civilians," Stefan said bringing me from my thoughts.

I turned around to face him. I wasn't shocked that he knew the answer I was more interested in why he would answer at all. Nobody really cared about this class but I guess Stefan was different.

"That's correct, Mr?" Mr Tanner asked pausing at the end so Stefan could fill in the rest.

"Salvatore," Stefan said.

"Salvatore, any relationship to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls," Mr Tanner asked.

Stefan didn't reply at first and I seemed to be the only one to notice. This was a little odd. There was something about Stefan Salvatore that seemed very odd because at that moment I remembered our conversation in the cemetery.

"Distant," he said after the short pause.

It was as if he had to think about it. Why would anyone need to think about that? It was either you are or you aren't sort of answer. I guess this was just another thing I could add to the list of odd things about Stefan.

"Well, very good, expect of course there were no civilian casualties in this battle," Mr Tanner said bringing me back to the class and boring me.

"Actually there were 27, sir," Stefan said.

This made me smile. Not only was Stefan strange he had the guts to show up Mr Tanner in his class. This was something no one in the class had ever done or wanted to do.

"Confederate soldiers fired on a church believing it to be housing weapons and they were wrong, it was night of great loss," Stefan said. "The founder's archives are in Civil Hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr Tanner," Stefan added.

I took a quick look at Mr Tanner. He appeared shocked and speechless. Stefan had only showed up Mr Tanner but he told him to study his facts in a friendly sort of way. Stefan was odd, funny and as much as I hate saying this I was starting to like Stefan, as a friend.

For a very odd reason I ended up going to all my classes that day. I think it was because of Stefan. I wanted to be friends with Stefan even if that meant being around Elena. I didn't try talking to Stefan that day at school because I wanted to avoid Elena but I knew if I wanted to be friends with Stefan I was going to have to talk to Elena since they had something going on. I noticed that because I stayed at school the whole day.

That afternoon I stepped through the front door of our house. No one greeted me in the hallway but as soon as I made it the lounge/dining/kitchen area I found my mother sitting at the dining table and my father facing her as he leant on the table. The door to my room was open and all my drugs from yesterday were on the dining table. I didn't care that they found my drugs because I knew it would happen but I also didn't care because I was distracted.

I avoided looking at them in the eyes as I continued to my room. I knew they were staring at me but they said nothing. Once in my room I closed the door and leant against it.

As I leant against the door I started thinking about Stefan and the odd things about him but mainly our conversation in the cemetery. He could have made a mistake when he said that I shouldn't be here. That was something I didn't ask him last night at the boarding house. As a matter of fact it hadn't bothered me until now.

"_Something is different, she spent the whole day at school and now she didn't even care that we found her drugs," my mother said._

I could hear my parents through my bedroom door since I was still leaning against it.

"_Do you think she has more?" my mother asked._

"_No I found everything," my father said. "Do you think?" my father asked without saying what he was thinking._

The doorbell rang and this prevented my mother replying to my father's question.

I walked away from my bedroom door and fell backwards onto my bed. I stared at the ceiling my thoughts about the ceiling didn't stay on the ceiling long. Instead I started thinking about what my parents just said. They were hiding something from me. I knew that. What would they need to hide from me that was so important that made my father care so much? What if it had something to do with James? I wouldn't put it past them to hide something about James from me. I wouldn't be surprised if he was adopted or something crazy like that. Well I would be surprised but I sort of wouldn't be at the same time. What if I was adopted? Okay I have to stop thinking. I'm letting my imagination think and that's not good at all.

There was a knock on my bedroom door. This was a little odd normally my mother and father would just come into my room.

"_Someone is at the door for you," my mother said through the door which muffled her voice._

I pushed myself up and walked towards my bedroom door. Once in the dining/kitchen area I noticed my dad was sitting at the dining and my mother was standing in the kitchen area.

"Don't invite him in," my father said.

"Okay," I replied unsure what that meant.

I walked up the long hallway to the front door. My mother had left the door open and standing outside the door was Stefan. He smiled at me slightly. I didn't smile back because I wasn't sure what to do.

"I would like to talk," he said calmly when I reached the door.

"Okay, if this is about the whole stalker thing, yeah I would like to talk about that," I replied.

He had to be slightly stalker because he knew I was in the cemetery on the first day of school and he now knew where I lived. That was too much to just be chance.

"I have come to explain myself about yesterday. I may have confused you," Stefan said.

"Yeah well you did that," I replied as I leant against the front door which leant against the wall of the hallway.

"I had no right to tell you what to do and I would like to explain why I said that, it's a very…" Stefan said just stopping at the end.

"It's okay, I'm over that. You made a mistake, it happens," I said. "How did you know I was in the cemetery?" I asked.

"I asked Jeremy, I noticed that you two were close and he said that you often went to the cemetery while school was still in," Stefan replied.

"Well that's true."

It was silent for a little while until I spoke again.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied almost instantly.

"Are you going to the back-to-school party at the falls?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. "Will you?" he asked being friendly.

"I think I'll be able to make it," I said with a smile as I stood up straight and stopped leaning against the door.

He nodded slightly to me before leaving. I closed the front door and headed back towards the kitchen/dining/lounge area. I really have to find a better name for that room, how about KDL area, no that's stupid. Maybe I'll come up with something later on. Anyway as I came to that area of the house my mother and father were standing near where the room joined onto the hallway.

"What did he want" my father asked.

My father was more controlling than my mother that's why I went with her to the boarding house last night. It was either go with my mother or go with my father somewhere. I hate being around my father now that James wasn't here.

"He wanted to talk," I said.

My mother remained silent and pretty much let my father do all the talking.

"Why?"

"He just wanted to know if I was going to the party tonight, so if you don't mind," I said as I walked past them and to my room.

I closed and locked my bedroom door before walking over to my walk-in-robe, which was right next to the ensuite but there wasn't a door that joined the ensuite and the walk-in-robe. I searched through my clothes. Normally I wear all black or dark coloured clothes. I hate bright colourful clothes. This time I grabbed a blood red coloured shirt with some black skinny jeans and a black denim jacket. Normally I just wear the same old jacket but I decided to change it that night, don't ask me why.

After grabbing my clothes I headed back into my bedroom and placed the clothes on my bed so I could remove my black cargo boots. I planned to wear them tonight with the clothes I just picked out. I also removed my jacket which had my phone in the pocket.

I headed to the ensuite. I had a really good shower and got dressed in the clothes that I had brought with me into the ensuite. The ensuite may have been smaller than the bathroom but there was just enough room for me. After dressing I stood in front of the mirror and ran a brush through my hair. If I had to describe my hair colour to you I would say it was gold but with more of a brown colour mixed in, so a golden brown. In the shadows or at night it would appear like a really light brown colour. I hate my hair colour being compared or described as blonde because it isn't a yellow colour it's a gold colour not blonde. If anyone ever calls my hair colour an orange colour I will probably go crazy, well crazier than now.

Anyway after I ran my brush through my hair I took a quick look through the window in the ensuite. It was late afternoon, really late afternoon. If I was lucky I could get to the party before nightfall. But I would prefer to get there after nightfall, it was more fun.

I stepped back into my bedroom and sat on the bed so I could pull on my socks and boots. As I sat there I remember my parent's reaction to Stefan turning up and the whole don't invite him inside thing. I couldn't think of any logical reason for their reactions.

Before leaving my room I grabbed my skateboard and my blood splattered headphones – with my iPod – I placed the headphones around my neck and held the skateboard in front of my body with my left hand.

I stepped out of my room into the living area. That's what I'm calling it now, the living area.

My father was watching TV and my mother nowhere in sight, in the bath I guessed. I walked past the dining table towards the back door that opened to the outdoor patio entertainment area. It was the place where normal people would have family gatherings but we didn't do that sort of thing. Sure it would be great to see my auntie and her boyfriend, he was cool. But my father didn't like her so much. She was my mother's sister after all.

I walked about half a block before I jumped onto my skateboard and pulled my headphones onto my head. I started listening to the songs on my iPod as I skateboarded towards the falls.


	5. Used To Be Cool

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Five**

**Used To Be Cool**

_**AN: So after I uploaded this chapter I promise I will upload a chapter every Monday. I keep forgetting to upload each week so I've decided to keep it to one day and if I don't upload on a Monday after this chapter I am so sorry. Enjoy!**_

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

I went to Val's house after school because I wanted to explain to her about the whole cemetery incident. I was a little worried that she was onto me. The look she gave me in history told me that she knew something was up. I could tell that Val was a smart, quick person and I knew that if I wasn't careful that she would find out the truth. It was dangerous if she knew the truth for too many reasons.

I also went to her house that afternoon to check if Val's eyes were really silver white or if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. When I came face to face with her I noticed that she had silver white eyes and not dark coloured eyes like Nicolette. So she wasn't Nicolette so she wasn't a vampire and if her parents didn't want her to invite me inside then they knew but Val didn't unless she was a really good actor.

Now that I knew that Val wasn't Nicolette the only answer I could come up with since I hadn't looked into her family tree, which was really hard. They had to be related which was obvious. It wasn't uncommon for later generations to appear the same as earlier generations it was just uncommon to look so much alike. But Val was so similar to Nicolette I was still worried that she might get hurt when Damon found her.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

Getting to the party wasn't hard and from the looks of it, it might be a good party. The first thing I did was grab a drink and find a good place to chill until I got bored of that place or found Jeremy. I couldn't help but notice Elena and Bonnie standing near a bonfire. The only reason I noticed this is because she was staring at me which meant she was talking or thinking about me. I was tempted to give her the finger but I wanted to be friends with Stefan and giving her the finger was probably not a good idea if I had to be around her.

Eventually Jeremy came and found me.

"What's up J," I said.

"I really don't understand that nickname," he replied.

"Well I'm lazy and I want to call you something other than your full name. Plus you sister already calls you Jer and I refuse to do anything she does," I explained.

"Well you both spend too much time in cemeteries," Jeremy pointed out.

"That's different," I said with a little anger. "I don't do there to talk to corpses," I said calmly.

"A little harsh don't you think?"

"You need more to drink, you're no fun," I said.

Jeremy and I proceeded to find more drinks. We both wanted to get drunk. I wanted to get drunk because of my parents and Jeremy wanted to get drunk for his own reasons.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

I stalked people around town. I watched people and eventually I found myself at the party at the falls where there were hundreds of victims for me to feed on. Whoever will I choose? I was tempted to feed from Elena but not kill her to hurt my brother but I would prefer to taunt him first before I did anything to her. I have been in town long enough to notice things but that night something shocked me more than anything I was prepared for.

I watched Elena from the shadows. She looked just like Katherine and she was just as beautiful. But my attention was quickly drawn away from Elena. I looked over at her brother – whose name I have never bothered to remember – with someone and they were trying to drink an entire bottle of beer in one go.

Elena's brother couldn't finish the bottle and coughed up some of the beer he just drank. The person, the girl he was drinking finished the bottle and threw it to the ground.

"Ha, I told you so," she said.

I froze when I heard the voice. It was very similar to a voice I hadn't heard in a long time but very different at the same time.

I continued to watch her. From this distance her hair was a very light brown but I knew if it was daytime that it would be a colour I haven't seen since, I'm not going there.

"I beat you," she said repeatedly.

She danced around in a circle and as her face came into my view, the seconds slowed down. It was Nicolette but it wasn't but it was. I wasn't sure what to think so I decided to roll with it. I had no emotions meaning I had no emotional problems with Nicolette. Not now, not ever.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

Jeremy had bet me that he could drink an entire bottle of beer before me. He didn't even get it finished. But that's only because I made him laugh. I danced around and laughed. I had no idea how much I had to drink but I think I was starting to get drunk but I wasn't there completely yet.

I went off on my own to see if anyone else wanted to challenge me. I thought about scaring people from behind trees but I decided against it. Something about the woods gave me chills that night.

After – I don't remember how long – walking around on my own I started looking for Jeremy but I couldn't find him anywhere so I gave up and decided to find another drink. I grabbed another drink but I didn't drink it. I just sat near the water's edge staring at the bottle in my hands.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

Elena and I were standing on the bridge that went over the river created by the falls. We stood there in silence for a bit until I noticed Val sitting on the ground near the water's edge just staring at a bottle in her hands.

"What's with Val? She seems," I paused to think. "Odd."

Elena sighed. I could tell from that Elena and Val weren't close.

"I don't really know, she came to town two years ago and she used to be cool. She was into cheerleading and fun until," Elena paused. "Until her brother died," she finished.

From what I just heard Elena say it sound like she hadn't really thought about Val's behaviour since before her own parents died. I'm guessing she now understood what Val was going through.

I decided to leave the Val talk there. I didn't want to cause any trouble between them because I wanted to be Val's friend and Elena's boyfriend.

"I like Bonnie she seems like a good friend," I said as I looked over at Bonnie.

"Best friend in the world," Elena replied a little happier that we weren't talking about Val.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I got up and looked around for my skateboard. My headphones were still around my neck. I found my skateboard. I was surprised that Tyler or someone else hadn't taken it. I wouldn't put it past them.

I grabbed my skateboard and proceeded to leave the party. I placed the bottle of beer down before I left the party. I didn't feel like drinking for some strange odd reason. I skateboarded towards my house but before I reached home I got off my skateboard and started walking. At some point after I got of my skateboard I received a text message from Jeremy.

_Vicki was attacked, _Jeremy had written.

I could tell he would be frantic.

_Is she going to be OK? _I replied.

I was only asking for him because I knew he cared about her. Oddly I felt nothing for Vicki at that moment. It was as if I didn't care she was attacked.

_She's lost a lot of blood. Planning to visit her tomorrow, meet me outside my house, real early._

_Ok I'll be there_

I put a quick reminder in my phone for the morning before I slipped my phone back into my pocket. I wasn't looking up and I should have expected the next thing.

I bumped into someone and since that someone was a big person I fell backwards onto the ground. Luckily I didn't smash my head into the ground. I didn't need that tonight.

I looked up at the person I had bumped into. From my place on the ground they were really tall. He wore pretty much wore all black which matched in perfectly with his hair.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm Damon," he said as he held out his hand to me.

I didn't want to grab his hand but when I remembered that this something my mother wouldn't do I grabbed his hand with my left hand since my skateboard was in my right. He helped me up onto my feet.

"I'm Val," I said once on my feet.

I figured since he told me his name that there wasn't anything wrong with telling him my name/nickname.

"Interesting," he said as he stared at my eyes.

"I guess, I should really get home," I said.

"Okay," he replied.

I stepped around him and started to walk towards my house again. A couple of seconds of walking I turned around to see if he was still there and he was gone. I guess he could have got into his car or something.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

I decided to speak with the girl that looked like Nicolette but wasn't her. Her name was Val and she had beautiful and interesting silver white eyes that Nicolette never had. After speaking with Val I went to the boarding house.

Stefan and I talked inside for a bit until he attempted to attack me and our conversation came outside, because of him.

"I was impressed, I give it a six. You missed on style, but I was pleasantly surprised," I said. "Very good with the whole face thing," I said before making a funny face and a growl sound. "It was good," I commented.

"Yeah, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh?" Stefan replied. "Bet wherever you go, people die," he said.

"That's a given," I replied.

_Of course people die_, I thought.

"Not here. I won't allow it," Stefan said.

"I take that as an invitation."

"Damon please, after all these years, can't we just give it a rest?"

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word," I said.

"Just stay away from Elena," Stefan said.

"And I thought you'd be concerned about Val," I said.

"Stay away from her as well."

"Where's your ring? Oh yeah, the sun's coming up in a couple of hours and poof, ashes to ashes," I said before I laughed. "Relax, its right here," I said as I held out his ring.

I suddenly grabbed Stefan's throat after he placed his ring back on his finger. I could feel my face change and if I paid attention I would have seen the reflection somewhere. I threw Stefan as hard as I could until he hit something. I appeared beside him and I looked down at him while he lied on the ground.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me, you lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people, I wouldn't try it again. I think we woke Zach up. Sorry Zach," I said as I turned and headed towards the boarding house.

"She's not Nicolette, you can't punish her because of what Nicolette did," Stefan whispered.

I stopped walking towards the house and turned on the spot.

"I have no intention of punishing her," I said with a huge grin on my face.

I turned back to the boarding house and continued to walk inside.

After that chat with my little brother I spent a little part of my time at the boarding house. I didn't talk to Stefan again. Taunting Stefan like I did was enough for the night. What I really wanted to do was see Val again. She may not be Nicolette but she looked just like her and I really liked the silver white eyes.

But when I found her house she was already inside and from what I could hear she was asleep but her parents weren't.

"_We can't move now because she'll know something is up," a woman said._

"_Well you can't stay here and let her find out that there are vampires in this town," a male replied._

He was angrier than the female.

"_I'm not moving, she'll be fine as long as she stays inside and doesn't invite them inside," the female replied._

"_Yeah until he comes to town and finds out who she looks like, she isn't safe here," he replied._

"_I'm not moving and that's final," she said before leaving the room._

This was very interesting and bad for me. I wouldn't be able to get invited into her house if her parents knew about vampires knew about me. I guessed that they were talking about me because it's the only thing that made sense. I wouldn't be able to see her tonight so I decided to go to The Grill.

Even though I didn't want to feel anything for anyone I couldn't help but think about Val and feel for her. I wanted to do so many things to her, both good and bad. But something was stopping me from doing those things and it wasn't the fact that she was inside a house that I couldn't get inside.

As I sat in The Grill I started to think. If I couldn't get Val I would get the closet thing. Sitting at the table beside me was a girl with yellow blonde hair. Her hair was completely different to Val's hair. It was so different that there was no way anyone could link the two together the way I was going too. Unless they were in my head and no one in this town could get in my head.

She smiled at me and I smiled back at her because my mind started to wander to the things I wanted to do to her and in time to Val.

* * *

_**AN: There really isn't much to say about this chapter. But I love the title**_


	6. Damon's Crow

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Six**

**Damon's Crow**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

The next morning I was woken up by my phone reminding me that I had to meet Jeremy. I had set the reminder for two hours before the time I planned to meet Jeremy just in case my parents wanted to talk. Even if they wanted to talk I would just walk out. They couldn't stop me leaving the house they would have to tie me down to do that.

I jumped out of bed. I had a quick shower and got dressed in something clean and practical for the day ahead of me. I stepped out into the kitchen and no one was there. This was a little odd because my mother always got up early.

I leant against the bench as I waited for my coffee to be made. As I waited my mother came into the living area in a pink robe. I disliked like pink before and after my brother died. I guessed that I woke up. She was the first to talk and that took a couple of minutes which meant I was drinking my coffee already.

"You're father wants to stay longer," she said.

"You can tell him he doesn't have too," I replied before I took a sip from my mug.

My mother continued to stare at me as if something was off.

"Did something happen last night that I don't remember?" I asked.

As far as I knew I remembered everything which even included meeting Damon who was sort of cool because he was creepy.

"Nothing happened, you had a lot to drink last night and your father," she said. "Well, you know your father, he wasn't all too please with last night," she added before she started to make herself some coffee.

A minute later I had finished my coffee.

"Well I should really go," I said as I placed my mug in the sink.

"Okay," she replied.

I was glad that my mother had never let my father stay at the house because having him here would just be worse than this.

Before leaving the house I went back into my room to grab my skateboard which I really should have done before I came into the living room.

I skateboarded towards Jeremy's house. It was still very early so I was hoping that I didn't have to wait long. When I reached Jeremy's house he was coming down the stairs of the patio. That was something my house didn't have. My mother's house was newer in design, like all the houses on the block we lived on so it wasn't out of place.

Instead of having two levels and a patio like Jeremy's house it was quite simple with one level – the ground level – and no patio out the front but it did have that outdoor entertainment patio out the back.

Anyway Jeremy and I headed to the hospital. He didn't say much on the way to the hospital or when he got there. I stayed out of the room while Jeremy went in. I didn't really know Vicki that well and I sort of felt guilty for not caring about her last night.

As I stood there I thought about what I wanted to do today, I didn't know if I wanted to go to school or not.

A nurse came up to me, she was obviously coming to check up on Vicki.

"Visiting times aren't until nine," she said.

"Yeah well I'm not visiting, technically I'm just standing in a hospital corridor," I pointed out.

"Well you're not allowed to be here," she said.

"That's what a friend said when I was walking around the cemetery," I said.

It didn't have any input to the conversation but I knew from past experience that if you start talking about things no one wants to hear or if you start talking to yourself they will leave and that's what she did. She walked into Vicki's room and I knew I had won. She told Jeremy the same thing that she told me but didn't force him out of the room or the hospital. It wasn't a really strict hospital was it?

I could really tell that Jeremy liked Vicki more than friends and this was really hard on him. He was really worried and after losing his parents he didn't want to lose someone else. No one ever wanted to lose someone else.

After decided to avoid school for the say I spent most of the day just walking around and wondering why my parents hated Stefan. Even though they never told me to stay away from him I knew they wanted me to stay away from him for some reason. I think they were trying reverse psychology.

As I was thinking I came up with a possible solution. Maybe the reason why my parents hated Stefan was because of something in the past. My link to the founding family was through my father so that would explain why he hated Stefan a little more than my mother. If this was the reason and it did have something to do with the past the best way to find out was to talk to Stefan since my parents won't tell me anything and Stefan knows a lot of things.

Maybe an hour or so after school finished I headed up to The Salvatore Boarding House. I was told once by someone that The Salvatore Boarding House was cursed but I had been there and been inside a couple times and nothing had happened. I wouldn't mind if I was cursed. I wasn't afraid of curses or anything and if I was cursed that might be a little fun.

In no time I was standing in front of the front door wonder what I should say. I hadn't seen this part of the house before because my mother and I always came through the back or side door. I'm not quite sure because I never paid attention to that in the past. I stood there thinking about what I should ask Stefan because I wasn't totally sure if this was the truth behind my parent's reaction to Stefan or not. So I was going out on a limb.

"What are you doing here" someone asked.

I turned to face the voice but I already knew it was Elena.

"Well I could ask you the same but I don't care," I said. "I'm here to talk with Stefan," I added.

"I came to see Stefan as well."

"Well after you Miss Gilbert," I said as I bowed slightly and outstretched my arm towards the door.

"Stop that," Elena said through her teeth before walking towards the door.

I followed her. Something about being here with Elena made all my worries about going inside disappear. Elena rang the doorbell beside. We waited a little white no answer came. Elena looked back at me as if she was wondering if I knew what was going on. I just shrugged as a reply. She turned back to the door and knocked on the door. It slightly and ever so slowly opened.

"Creepy," I whispered into Elena's ear after I leaned in closer to her.

"Stop that," she said this time opening her mouth.

We slowly stepped inside. I followed her.

"Stefan," she asked/yelled into the house.

I followed her into the house. It wasn't a bad looking house/mansion. It was big which was cool.

"Stefan," Elena yelled again.

"I think we would have heard you the first time," I whispered trying to make this even creepier for her.

I looked around the house. Stefan's bag was here but he wasn't, it wasn't that odd. This house was huge he could have not heard us, but I doubt that highly since Elena was yelling out and all. I continued to walk and I stepped down into the room directing in live with the front door even though Elena tried to stop me.

A crow suddenly flew through the open door towards the grand fireplace in the room I was standing in now. I started laughing when I saw Elena's face.

"You should have seen you're face," I whispered.

I don't know why I was still whispering.

"Shut up," she hissed.

I stopped laughing and looked up at the crow, it was pretty cool. It was all black like a normal crow but there was something odd about it, I swear it was staring at me. I walked up to the grand fireplace. I dropped my skateboard on the lounge as I walked closer to the crow. The crow continued to sit on the mantel piece. I reached up and the crow stepped onto my hand.

"Hey check this out," I said as I turned back to Elena.

I didn't look up at Elena because I was looking at the crow on my hand.

"I'm sorry for barging in, the door was…" Elena said.

I looked up from the crow and saw Elena standing between Damon and I. He was standing closer to her than anything else in the room. Elena looked over at the closed door which was open but wasn't anymore. That was cool and creepy which was awesome.

"…open," Elena finished.

"You must be Elena, I'm Damon, Stefan's brother," he said as he looked down at Elena.

I sighed louder than I thought I had. Everyone liked Elena, apart from me. But every person liked Elena aside from people like Tyler who already knew her.

"Hello Val," he said as he walked around Elena and over to me.

"Hey Damon," I replied.

I could tell Elena was a little shocked or disappointed that she wasn't the centre of attention.

"He didn't tell me he had a brother," Elena said trying to get Damon's attention on her.

Damon held out his hand so the crow stepped onto his hand. I don't know how but I got a feeling that he owned the crow or something. It wasn't a normal pet but I liked it abnormal things. I continued to watch as Damon placed the crow back on the mantel piece.

"Well Stefan's not one to brag," Damon said before turning back to Elena. "Please, come, I'm sure Stefan will be along any second," he said as he gestured for Elena to come into the room.

"Is this your living room?" I asked after looking around the room while he was talking to Elena.

"Living room, parlour, 70's auction, it's a little kitschy for my taste," Damon said as he looked at me before looking over at Elena again. "I see why my brother's so smitten, it's about time," he said as he started to walk from me towards Elena. "For a while there I never thought he'd get over the last one," Damon said to Elena but I continued to listen.

I didn't even know that Stefan and Elena were together or a couple. I had my suspicions but I guessed that now I knew it meant that I was going to have to become friends with Elena if I waited to be friends with Stefan. I had to be at least good friends anyway.

"Nearly destroyed him," Damon continued.

"The last one," Elena asked.

_His ex, of course_, I thought.

I decided to stay out of the conversation at that point. They were talking about Elena and Stefan's relationship which was a little odd because she was talking with Damon but I didn't do anything to stop them. I just walked around the room checking out the small things. I get distracted easily but somehow I managed to still listen to the conversation going on in the room.

"Yeah, Katherine, his girlfriend," Damon replied.

Elena didn't reply and remained silent which told me that they hadn't talked about that yet.

"Oh, you two haven't had the awkward ex's conversation yet," Damon realised.

"Nope," Elena replied.

"Oops, well, I'm sure it'll come up now, or maybe he didn't tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound," Damon said. "We all know how that sort of relationship ends," Damon added.

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end," I said without looking over at them.

"I'm a fatalist," Damon replied.

I slowly turned to face Damon and Elena. I noticed Stefan standing in the foyer/hallway area.

"Hello, Stefan," Damon said.

I watched as Elena turned around to face Stefan.

"I didn't know you two were coming over," Stefan said remaining very emotionless.

"I know I should have called…" Elena said as she walked closer to the Stefan.

"Yeah well I would have called but hey I didn't," I said cutting Elena off.

I didn't want to make up an excuse. But if I wanted to give one I would have said that I didn't have his number which was 100 per cent true.

"Oh, don't be silly, you're welcome any time, the both of you, aren't they, Stefan?" Damon asked.

Stefan just stared at Damon.

_Ah sibling tension, how I miss that, _I thought.

"I should break out the family photo album or some home videos, but I have to warn you he wasn't always such a looker," Damon said to Elena.

I didn't care that much about that sort of thing. But it would have been funny to see a picture of Stefan as a child.

"Thank you for stopping by Elena and Val, it was nice to see the both of you," Stefan said as he continued to stare at Damon.

"Yeah, I should probably go, it was nice to meet you Damon," Elena said.

"Great meeting you too, Elena," Damon said before he kissed the back of her hand.

"Come on you," Elena said to me.

"Me?" I asked pointing to myself.

Eventually I headed towards the door while Stefan and Elena shared an awkward little moment.

"Do come back soon Val," Damon called out to me.

"Yeah," I replied unsure if I wanted too or not.

Elena and I stepped outside before she practically started pushing me towards her car.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Get in," she told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Just get in," Elena said.

Once in the car we drove away from The Salvatore Boarding House.

"Now are you going to tell me what this is about? This is kidnapping of the friendly type," I said.

"How do you know Stefan?" she asked.

I could totally tell she was jealous.

"No need to be jealous, we just talked once or twice," I said as I tried to think about how many times it was. "Three times I think, we're just friends," I said knowing that Elena didn't care about how times we talked to each other.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

"What kind of game are you playing Damon?" Stefan asked.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" I asked as I reached down and grabbed Val's skateboard from the lounge.

I proceeded to leave the lounge/parlour room with Val's skateboard. Stefan couldn't help but watch me.

* * *

_**AN: I couldn't help but write the little scene between Damon and Val. It was so cute and it was fun to write.**_


	7. The McDaniel Family

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Seven**

**The McDaniel Family**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

"He's on the rebound," Elena said as she stood in the kitchen.

"Don't forget the raging family issues," I added as I sat on the lounge facing away from them.

"Why are you here?" Elena asked.

"Because you forced me into your car," I replied without turning to face her.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend," Jenna said.

"She's right," I commented.

I knew Elena would have screwed up her face. But she forced me into her car and she came here. If she didn't want me commenting on everything she said she should have dropped me off at my house.

"Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues or amphetamine issues," Jenna said.

The front door opened and I leant forward to see who it was, Jeremy.

_Thank god_, I thought as I stood.

"Jeremy," Jenna said.

As far as I could tell Jeremy went straight for the stairs as I walked towards the foyer.

"Jeremy, where were you?" Jenna asked as she stormed towards the bottom of the stairs.

I decided to avoid anything she had planned so I stayed in the sitting room. The sitting room is the room to your left when you come through the front door.

"More stoner stories, look Jenna, I get it, you were cool once and that's," Jeremy said as he stopped on the stairs. "Cool," he finished.

Jeremy turned and continued up the stairs.

"Oh, no, no, no," Jenna said before she threw the apple she had in her hand at him.

I couldn't help but smile. But that smile faded away when Jeremy turned around. I was technically on his side.

"Why? Why did you do that?" Jeremy asked.

"Listen up, quit ditching class or you're grounded, no discussion," Jenna said.

"Parental authority, I like it, sleep tight," Jeremy said before continuing up the stairs.

As Jenna headed back to the kitchen I made my way up the stairs to Jeremy's room. The door was closed and most likely locked. I tried the door anyway and it was locked.

"Jeremy if you don't open the door I will kick your ass," I said.

"_You can't if I don't open the door," he replied._

"That won't stop me," I said.

I heard movement from inside the room and the next thing I heard was the door being unlocked. I opened the door and walked into his room before I closed the door after myself.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

For a while I sat in my room with Val's skateboard. It was just simple black but it had been hand painted as if there was something underneath the black paint that she didn't want to look at. I didn't want to find out what it was because I didn't care that much about what she was trying to hide.

Val was different to Nicolette. Nicolette was very shy and as far as I knew, Stefan and I were her only friends, but she always liked me more. Val on the other hand was very outspoken, she would say what she thought and I had noticed she knew a lot of tricks that messed with people's head to get what she wanted. I liked that a lot.

When I realised that I was thinking about Nicolette and Val I decided to leave. I wasn't going to sit around and worry about Nicolette anymore. She was gone and I didn't care about her because I only cared about one person, myself.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

"What is Damon doing here? Why did he come home?" Zach asked.

"Because I came home, he wants to make my life miserable," I replied. "It's how he enjoys his," I added.

"Well he's putting us at risk, this girl in the hospital could talk," Zach said.

"She won't, I took care of her," I replied remembering my short trip to the hospital.

"You're sure."

I sighed as I continued to get ready for tonight.

"I'm not sure, Zach," I said. "I don't know how well it worked, I'm not as strong as Damon," I added.

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Zach asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I'll deal with it."

"Is she worth it, Uncle Stefan? This girl you came back for," Zach asked.

I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't just Elena that I came back for. Sure at first it was but after meeting Val, I'm now staying because of both of them. Elena because I liked her a lot and Val because I missed having a friend like Nicolette and I was hoping that since they looked the same that I could sort of have that friendship again, a human friendship.

Zach didn't know about Val. What I mean is he didn't known that Nicolette and Val looked the same? Well as far as I knew he didn't know because I hadn't told Zach about her and I knew Damon wouldn't.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

Later that night I wanted to stay at home but my mother forced me to go to the stupid Night of the Comet thing in the town square. Apparently as a descendent of a founding family I should attend these sorts of things even though I didn't want too. Luckily I managed to find Jeremy which meant I didn't have to stay with my mother.

We were inside The Grill talking when Jeremy saw Vicki. I decided to stay at the table I was sitting, but I couldn't help notice Tyler staring at them. I was sitting close enough to hear their conversation.

"Vicki, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asked.

"Fighting with Robert about my schedule, you'd think getting ripped up by a rapid animal would merit an extra sick day," Vicki replied.

I could tell that there was something between them, I just didn't know what and I didn't want to go into that because of so many different reasons.

I remained with Jeremy for most of the night until I found myself talking with Stefan.

We were walking through the town square talking. Since I had forgotten to talk to Stefan about it at his house the first time and Elena dragged me the second time I decided now was an okay time.

"I was wondering, since you know a lot, do you know anything my family? Like back in the day," I asked hoping he understood what I meant.

"I don't know much, just what I've read," Stefan said. "The McDaniel Family was very important in this town until they disappeared."

"Why did they disappeared?" I asked.

"I don't know, no one knew. I have read the journals from that time and no one knew what happened."

"Okay," I sighed.

Stefan and I continued to walk around until Vicki's brother came up to us. I think his name was Matt I have never really had the time to find out or remember.

"Hey," Matt said.

"Hey," Stefan replied.

I decided to remain quite because I didn't know Matt that well and I'm pretty sure he had a strong dislike of me.

"Have you seen my sister?" Matt asked the both of us.

I was a little surprised that Matt had bothered to ask me. Then I realised that Vicki and I were close enough and that I should have really known where she was. But I was thinking about myself too much like normal.

"No, sorry," Stefan said.

Matt looked at me and all I did was shake my head.

"Can't find her, she's missing," Matt said.

"We'll keep an eye out for her," Stefan said as he nodded.

Stefan and I turned to leave. I wasn't sure if we were going to look for Vicki or not.

"Hey," Matt said getting our attention.

Stefan stopped walking which made me stop as well. We turned back to Matt.

"I saw you at the hospital yesterday," Matt said to Stefan.

"Did you?" Stefan asked after stepping closer to Matt in a non-threatening way.

"What were you doing there?" Matt asked.

I started to get interested. Stefan was new in town so why would he be at the hospital. I hadn't heard anything about Zach getting hurt.

"Visiting," Stefan said.

I started to get confused. My brain started to think about people he could possibly be visiting and I couldn't think of one person. Well I could but they had no name. I guessed that someone from when he was younger was in the hospital and he was visiting them. It wasn't too much of a stretch.

"Visiting?" Matt asked.

There was silence. It suddenly became very awkward.

"You know, Elena and me. We've known each other a long time and we might not be together right now, but I look out for her and I'll always look out for her," Matt said to Stefan.

I wanted to walk away at this point because it was really not my sort of conversation but I really didn't want to interrupt.

Stefan nodded and it became silent again.

"Excuse me," Stefan eventually said. "I hope we can talk more another time, Val," Stefan said before walking away.

I stood there with a confused Matt. He wasn't the only confused one of course. I was a little confused myself. Stefan just suddenly needed to leave and there was no reason why he had to leave.

Matt looked at me and I sort of awkwardly looked back at him.

"What?" I asked.

"Whatever you have planned with Jeremy…" he started.

"Why does everyone think I have something planned for Jeremy? Can't I have a friend, god," I said before walking away.

I planned to find my mother but I decided that I should just walk home because I didn't want to wait for her to stop talking to her friend. That could take hours.

I walked home because I hadn't thought about my skateboard and my mother offered to drive. As I walked I started kicking a small rock along the footpath that was until Damon found me.

"Hello Val," he said.

I stopped walking and looked up from the rock and I saw Damon standing a couple of metres in front of me.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" I asked.

For some reason I was still a little angry from earlier and I really didn't have or want the time to deal with Damon.

"I wanted to see you," he said.

"Stalker much," I asked.

"Very," Damon replied.

"Creep," I said as I started to walk around him.

I don't know if what I heard was what really happened but I swear I heard Damon growl at me. Like he wasn't creepy enough now he growls at people. I didn't turn back as I continued to walk home. Luckily when I got home my father was gone.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

After messing with Stefan that night I wanted to see Val and luckily I found her walking alone. I appeared in front of her but she seemed to not notice because she was distracted.

"Hello Val," I said to get her attention.

She stopped walking and looked up from the rock she was kicking.

"Damon, what are you going here?" she asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

"I wanted to see you," I said truthfully.

It had been the truth because I had wanted to see her. I wanted to be around her. Every time I told myself that I had no emotions I would always think about Val and they would never leave. A part of me wanted to kill her because she was a weakness to me and if anyone found out they could use her against me. But there was another part, a stronger part that couldn't bring any harm to her.

"Stalker much," she asked.

"Very," I replied.

"Creep," she said before she walked around me.

I growled at her for calling me a creep and walking away from me. But when I went to grab her I couldn't, it felt like a force was stopping me but I knew it was all in my head. So I decided to go off and find Caroline.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I was sitting in the living area watching the TV. My mother still hadn't come home yet and I wasn't surprised. She always ended up getting stuck in a conversation with her friends. But this meant I could get away easily which was a plus for me.

As I sat there I couldn't help think about Damon and the way he acted. There was something odd about him. Eventually my thoughts drifted to Stefan and his odd behaviour. When I told Stefan that it didn't bother me that we had that odd conversation in the cemetery at the time it hadn't. But now it was.

Everything that was going on was confusing me but that confusion faded away when I changed the channel on the TV. A movie was playing on the channel I had switched too and I quickly realised that it was my favourite movie. Well our favourite movie. My brother and I liked the same movie and as I sat there watching the movie I couldn't help but feel the tears built up in my eyes. I missed him so much.

* * *

_**AN: I just love the fact that no one knows what happened to the McDaniel family. Well technically there are people that know but I'm not going to tell you who, yet.**_


	8. Sleeping in Class

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Eight**

**Sleeping in Class**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I was sitting with Jeremy when Vicki came up to us.

"I rock, I scored two tickets to the Posers Saturday night, they're playing at The Rat," Vicki said.

"You and Tyler have fun," Jeremy replied.

I must have missed something last night because as far as I knew Jeremy and Vicki were on an even playing field.

"Don't be like that, come on. I want you to go," Vicki said.

"What you're not worried everyone will know you're screwing the stoner geek?" Jeremy asked. "Oh wait. Everyone already knows," he added.

_I didn't know, _I thought.

"Yeah, but it's not like that anymore, so now we can be friends and hang," Vicki replied.

"Tell me something, was it the drugs? Were you sleeping with me because of the drugs?" Jeremy asked.

"Screw you."

"Well, no. If there's another reason please I'm all ears," Jeremy said.

Vicki's face was filled with shock. I was a little shocked that he was acting like this but he was my best friend so I decided that I should side with him. When Jeremy got up to leave I followed mainly because he grabbed my wrist again.

Before now I had no problem with Jeremy dragging me around but after the small conversation with Matt last night I really didn't like Jeremy touching me.

I pulled my wrist away from Jeremy.

"What?" Jeremy asked as we walked together.

"Nothing, I just don't like bringing dragged around," I said.

Jeremy stared at me.

"Did my sister say something?" Jeremy asked.

"Not really, Matt said something," I replied.

"You shouldn't have to worry about them we're just friends, right?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah," I said with a happier voice.

I tried to go to sleep in my history class but it was kind of hard with Mr Tanner talking and I could feel Elena staring at me. I just wanted to turn around and cause a scene. It would have been more fun than whatever ever Mr Tanner was going on about.

"World War 2 ended in…?" Mr Tanner asked.

No said anything and I was almost asleep.

"Wake up Miss McDaniel," Mr Tanner said.

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up but I couldn't help slide down so my head rested on the back of the chair.

"Anyone got anything? Mrs Juan?" Mr Tanner asked.

No one said anything aside from the few people chatting to themselves.

"1945," Mr Tanner said.

As I sat there I couldn't help but want to go to sleep.

"FYI, our team sucks, they could use you," Elena said bringing me back from my sleep.

"Pearl Harbour," Mr Tanner asked. "Miss McDaniel?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" I said slowly.

"What year did Pearl Harbour happen?" Mr Tanner asked.

"What do you mean? Like the attack or when it was made?" I asked being a smartass.

Mr Tanner shut up and I tried to go back to sleep.

"Can't, I'm a loner," Stefan replied to Elena.

"Miss Gilbert," Mr Tanner said.

Elena made some sort of sound but I wasn't really all there to remember what sort of sound it was.

"Pearl Harbour," Mr Tanner asked.

"Um…"

"December 7th, 1941," Stefan said.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert," Mr Tanner said.

I would have laughed like everyone else but I was practically out of it. Shortly after that I went to sleep for a couple of minutes but I was awoken by Mr Tanner shouting something.

"What the hell?" I asked.

Elena laughed at me and I turned around to face her. I get anger if I get woken up when I don't want to get up.

"Shut your face before I punch it," I threatened.

Elena immediately shut up. This action seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else in the class because Stefan was challenging Mr Tanner again. He had guts.

When the bell rang I got up and left the classroom as quick as I could.

During gym – which was my last class for the day – yeah I'm surprised that I lasted all day too. I was lying on the bleachers trying to get the sleep I needed. The teacher didn't bother to yell at me during that class because he had given up on me. It was easier to just give me a fail in that class than to get me to do something.

I didn't get much sleep last night because I couldn't sleep. I finished watching the movie and I couldn't stop thinking and I find it hard to sleep if I am thinking that much. But something odd did happen that night.

* * *

_Flashback…_

_I tossed and turned in my bed trying to get to sleep but I couldn't. I needed to stop thinking before I could get to sleep._

"_Why am I the one that has to call him?" I heard my mother say as she came into the house._

_I couldn't hear who was on the other end but I got the feeling that it was my father._

"_Are you sure that this will work?" she asked._

_Her voice was getting louder which meant she was getting closer to my room._

"_Okay, I'll call him in the morning."_

_After that there was no more talking but I could hear footsteps. The footsteps came closer to my bedroom door until they stopped. I knew my mother was standing just outside my bedroom door._

_I rolled away from the door and pretended to be asleep. I didn't really need a conversation with my mother right now._

_She slightly opened the door and stepped into my room. For some reason I was glad I didn't lock the door. She continued to walk into the room. I couldn't see where she was walking but I could tell that she was close to my bed._

"_I'm going to make it better," she whispered. "Everything will go back to normal," she added before leaving my room._

_She closed the door and I sat up. _What the hell did she mean she was going to make it better? I_ thought._

* * *

"Val," someone whispered.

"Leave me alone," I replied.

"Val, get up," Stefan said.

I opened my eyes to see Stefan standing on the bleachers. I didn't get it. I didn't have class with Stefan unless I slept right through my class.

I sat up and looked around. The football team were practicing on the field. I had slept through my entire class.

"Thanks Stefan," I said as he sat down. "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked.

He just looked at the football team.

"Okay, well if you join tell me, I might come to the football rally thing," I said.

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"Because I consider you my friend and I will do whatever I have to do to make my friends happy," I said.

Stefan just smiled.

I got to my feet. I turned back to bend down and grab my leather jacket which I had taken off because it was too hot out here in the sun. I was about to grab my skateboard which would have been where it was every time when I had this class. That's when I realised that I didn't bring it to school today. I stood there a little confused.

"It's at my place," Stefan said.

I looked down at Stefan and I noticed that he was playing with his ring. It was a cool ring.

"Okay," I said as I tried to remember why it was there.

I remembered that I had left it on the lounge in their living/parlour room.

"I guess I'll have to get that back," I said mainly to myself.

Stefan didn't say anything. So I decided to leave.

"Goodbye Stefan," I said.

"Goodbye Val."

I walked down the bleachers until I found the cheerleaders. I decided to walk away from them as fast as I could and the only way to get away from them quickly was to walk through the car park which was meant to out of bounds for students. I didn't care.

I continued to walk until Damon noticed me.

"Hey Val," he said as he stopped his car beside me.

I can't deny it. It was a pretty awesome looking car.

"Damon," I sighed. "I would really like it if you left me alone," I said.

"I just wanted to tell you that you left your skateboard at my place," Damon said.

"I know," I said purposely forgetting to say that Stefan told me.

I didn't want to look like an idiot.

"You can come and get it now if you want, I'm going there now," Damon said.

I stood there. I knew that getting into cars with people I didn't know or hardly knew was a bad idea but at that point anything could have been better than going home to my house. My mother was at work until late so I would have been there alone.

"Okay," I agreed.

He smiled as I walked around the front of his car and got into the passenger seat. As he drove to the boarding house it was quiet. I didn't want to say anything and I got the feeling that he didn't want to say anything either.

When we got to the boarding house he took me to his room because he said that he left it in his room.

I stepped into his room and the first thing I noticed was how big it was. It was bigger than my room. If I had to guess it was probably the size of the living area in my house and that wasn't including his bathroom to one side.

I almost stopped walking. But I managed to continue to walk really slowly as he walked at a normal speed.

"Here it is," he said bringing me back from my thoughts.

Damon picked up my skateboard which was leaning against his giant bed. I wished I had a bed that big.

"Thanks," I said.

Damon walked over to me and passed me that skateboard. He tilted his head to one side and smiled at me.

"What?" I asked.

I was a little worried that I did something wrong.

"Nothing, are you going to be attending the football rally?" he asked.

"I don't know, I said that if Stefan joined the team then I would."

"I have a good feeling that he will."

"Well," I said. "Are you going?" I asked.

"And why do you want to know?" Damon asked seductively.

I continued help but smile. Damon was creepy but somehow he managed to make me smile which few people could do.

Damon came closer to me.

"I should go," I said.

Something was telling me that Damon was dangerous and that scared me a little. It was really odd because nothing ever scared me but standing this close to Damon scared me and that is the complete truth.

I stepped away and headed to the door.

"I'll see you at the football rally," Damon said as I stepped out of his room.

I walked back to the stairs. I walked down the stairs and I was walking back to the front door when Zach stepped out of the living/parlour room.

"Oh, hey Zach," I said as I stopped walking.

"Val, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to get my skateboard back," I said as I held it up.

"How is your mother?" he asked.

"She's okay," I replied as I started to walk towards the front door and him.

I stopped when I reached him.

"If you too have anything going on I'm completely okay with that," I said.

Zach just looked at me.

"I mean like relationship wise. I know people often think that if they start dating after a divorce that the child or children would be affected by it," I said mainly to myself. "But I'm okay with whatever you too want to do," I said.

"We aren't…"

"Whatever, Zach," I said before leaving.

* * *

_**AN: The person Val's mother is talking about is very important to the storyline so I had to include that flashback; I hope it doesn't seem out of place or whatever.**_


	9. Tristan's Arrival

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Nine**

**Tristan's Arrival**

_**AN: I didn't get the chance to upload on Monday so I'm uploading two chapters, Enjoy!**_

* * *

_Val's POV…_

When I got home I thought about going to my room and staying in there for the night but I decided against it. Technically I went to my room to ditch my skateboard and jacket but I didn't stay in my room.

I was sitting on the lounge watching the TV. There wasn't really anything on the TV just some lame reality TV show.

As I sat there I couldn't help but wish something exciting happened that night. My mother was in her room doing whatever she was doing, reading probably.

The doorbell rang I was a little surprised because I was just wishing that something exciting would happen but I really didn't believe it would happen.

"Can you get that?" my mother yelled from her room.

"Okay," I replied as I turned the TV off and stood.

I walked down the long hallway to the front door. I opened the front door and saw someone that I thought I would never see in this town.

"Tristan," I asked.

"I'm surprised you remember my name," he replied.

The first thing I noticed was that there were bags at his feet. _What was going on?_ I thought.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm waiting for you to invite me in," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he called, his parents kicked him out and he needed a place to stay," my mother said from behind me.

I had turned to look at her as she talked. What she said didn't sound that odd.

"Okay, come in, but…"

"I know," he replied as he picked up his bags and stepped inside.

I watched as Tristan walked down the long hallway. My mother showed him towards the spare bedrooms as I slowly closed the front door. I should probably tell you that Tristan was my ex-boyfriend.

I haven't seen Tristan in two years and even though he almost looked the same I could tell that there was something different about him.

I walked back down to the living area. I wanted to find out why mother was so willing to let him stay here. I knew that they did get along pretty well in the past but I still didn't understand what was going on. I decided to find out in the morning because I really wanted to get to sleep.

But before I could get to sleep I played with my whistle from James. I felt a little angry because James was the real reason why I broke up with Tristan. I really liked Tristan and my brother had to go a wreak it. So I threw his whistle and the necklace that the wall in front of me before lying down to go to sleep.

* * *

_I sat at the kitchen table in our old house. James sat across from me. Tristan sat next to me and my parents sat at the ends of the table._

"_So Tristan what do you plan to do after school?" my father asked._

_This was the first time Tristan had met my father. He had meant my mother a few times when he came over. For some reason my father was always away on the days he visited my house._

"_Well I plan to go into engineering, either a mechanic or something like that. I like cars," Tristan said._

"_That's good," my father replied._

_Tristan smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile at me. The only person that wasn't smiling was James. For some reason James didn't like Tristan that much. I think it was because James didn't like that fact that I was dating someone._

_Later that night I was sitting on my bed in my room and Tristan was sitting next to me._

"_Tonight wasn't so bad, I had fun," Tristan said._

"_Mm, that makes one of us," I replied._

_Tristan scoffed._

"_Come on, your brother isn't as bad as you make him out to be," Tristan said._

"_You…"_

_I was cut off by Tristan putting his finger on my lips. I stopped talking as he leaned closer and ran his thumb over my cheek before he leaned in a kissed me. This wasn't the first time we kissed but there was something different about it._

_Tristan leaned forward and I leaned backwards. He hovered over me as he kissed me. I flipped us over so Tristan was lying on the bed and I was hovering above him. I continued to kiss him as he played with the hem of my shirt. I sat up straight so I could remove my shirt._

_After I removed my shirt Tristan started to remove his shirt but as his shirt came over his head he turned into Damon. I couldn't help but scream and jumped away from him._

* * *

I suddenly woke up. I gasped for air and quickly realised that it was all a dream. But it didn't feel like a dream. It felt so real but it had to be a dream.

I looked around the room before getting out of my bed and walking into the ensuite. There was always a glass that sat on the basin. So I grabbed the glass and started to fill it with water.

As I drank the water I looked into my room and saw my whistle and necklace lying on the floor. I finished the water and walked into my room. I picked up the whistle and placed it back around my neck.

I couldn't hate James for something he really didn't do. Well he did but I couldn't hate him now that he was gone.

The following day I really didn't want to go to the football rally because of my dream but then I realised that it was only a dream and that it was all in my head.

I had a shower and got changed. When I stepped out of my room in the living area I found Tristan standing in the kitchen area making a coffee.

"Would you like one?" he asked.

"Thank you," I replied.

He grabbed another mug and when the coffee was ready he poured me some. He handed me the coffee mug and continued to stand there. We drank our coffee in silence until he said something.

"So I was thinking that since we are going to the same school that we could start over?"

"Ah, I don't know," I replied.

"How about we start at friends for now? I really don't like you hating me," Tristan said.

"I don't hate you, I just…" I paused. "It's just James."

He smiled slightly and nodded.

"I can do friends," I said with a smile.

Tristan and I moved from the kitchen and sat on the lounge.

"Would you like a lift to the school?" Tristan asked.

"Why are you going to the school?" I asked.

"I'm officially part of the football team."

"You are?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was at training the other day," Tristan said. "I got a transfer, the school was okay with that," Tristan explained.

I nodded.

"I'm surprised that our old school let you leave at all," I said.

Tristan was the best player on the team at our old school.

"Well let's just say I have my ways," Tristan said with a smile.

We sat there in silence for a bit.

"I must have missed you the other day," I said.

"Well I was there all day," Tristan replied.

Tristan and I were the same age and if he was in any of my classes after history I wouldn't have noticed that he was there because I was like a zombie because I was so out of it.

Later Tristan and I were sitting in his car. As I sat there I realised why I liked Damon's car it was because Tristan had a very simular car. It was still a Chevrolet but it was a different model and almost the same colour just darker.

"Do you want to know what number I got on my jersey?" Tristan asked.

I was actually surprised that he wasn't wearing his jersey.

"And I didn't even have a choice in it," Tristan said.

"What number?" I asked.

"Four," he replied.

"Our favourite number," I said.

Technically it wasn't my favourite number but it was our number. It was a really odd story how it became our favourite number but simply we were doing something stupid one night and it involved Tristan and I getting drunk and doing something reckless. Let's just say he ended up with four broken bones.

"Yes it is," Tristan said with a smile.

After arriving at the school Tristan and I split up. He was on his way to the locker room to get his jersey on which was in the back of the car. I went to just walk around, to find Jeremy possibly.

But I found Elena instead.

"We need to talk," she said.

"The last time that happened, you practically kidnapped me and said nothing," I replied.

"I don't like you and you don't like me…"

"I hate you," I said.

"But Stefan is my boyfriend and he is your friend. I don't want to lose him and you don't want to lose him so how about we call it a truce for now," Elena said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We attempt to be friends and we leave everything that has happened in the past in the past," Elena said.

I stood there thinking. I wanted this because I wanted to be friends with Stefan but I didn't like Elena that much.

"Okay, for now," I replied.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

Everyone had gathered around to listen to Mr Tanner speak.

"Quiet down for a minute, okay," Mr Tanner said.

I noticed Elena and Val standing together. I had had a small chat with Elena about Val. I wanted to be her friend and be Elena's girlfriend but I couldn't do that with them hating each other.

Val smiled and waved to someone. I turned and looked at the person she was smiling and waving at. He stood a couple of people down from me with a jersey on. He was at football practice the day Mr Tanner had let me try out. He was good and from what I could tell he was new.

"Let's be honest here, in the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us," Mr Tanner said.

The guy – whose name I didn't know yet – was good at offense and I didn't like to say it because this guy gave me chills. But we were a really good team if practice had anything to do with it.

"But that is about to change," Mr Tanner said before people started to cheer. "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on offense and I'm gonna tell you right now, it had been a long time since I have seen two kids with hands like these," Mr Tanner said.

I knew he was talking about me and the new guy. Maybe I would finally find out his name.

"Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore and Tristan Robinson," Mr Tanner shouted.

My eyes went wide when I heard the last name. This wasn't good if he was here. I had a run in with a vampire named Tristan Robinson in the past and it wasn't a good outcome. I can't remember what he looked like back then because it is a blur but I got the feeling that this was the Tristan Robinson I knew.

"_This blows, he can't start them, they just got here," Tyler said._

I quickly looked over at Elena and noticed that Val was gone.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

The only reason why I stood with Elena was to see Tristan in his jersey to see if he was telling the truth and he was. I left shortly after waving to him because I needed a drink.

That's when I found Jeremy.

"Hey Jeremy, you gonna share or not," I asked.

"Here," Jeremy said as he passed the alcohol to me.

I started to drink the alcohol when I noticed Tyler coming towards us. Technically Jeremy but I was standing there.

"Don't look so down, you can have her when I've done," Tyler said to Jeremy.

Jeremy immediately punched Tyler in the face. I have to admit it was a good punch.

* * *

_**AN: If you didn't figure it out Tristan is the person Val's mother was meant to call. She claims that he called but she called him. I changed Elena's dream about Damon to Val because it's all about Damon and Val. The whole truce thing between Elena and Val isn't going to make them best friends now because that's sort of impossible when they were never best friends. When Val moved to Mystic Falls she meant Elena and that was it. She was closer to Caroline than Elena.**_


	10. So Much for Compulsion

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Ten**

**So Much for Compulsion**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

Tyler pushed Jeremy back almost into me if I didn't step out of the way. A glass bottle smashed onto the ground.

"Tyler, stop it," Vicki yelled.

Jeremy tried to get up but Tyler started to smash his knee into his abdomen multiple times. He threw Jeremy to the ground. I wanted to step in and help out but I couldn't do much against Tyler and I knew that.

"Tyler!" Vicki yelled.

A crowd started to form around Tyler and Jeremy.

"Stop, you're hurting him, Tyler, Tyler, stop," Vicki yelled.

Tyler held Jeremy to the ground and punched him in the face once before Jeremy flipped them over and started punching Tyler in the abdomen. Tyler managed to flip them over so he was on top of Jeremy. Tyler started punching Jeremy again.

"Tyler, stop it," Vicki yelled.

"Hey, he's down, enough," Stefan said as he grabbed Tyler's arm.

Tyler got off Jeremy and punched Stefan in the abdomen but there was no reaction. It appeared as if Stefan felt nothing. Jeremy rolled over and grabbed the neck of the bottle which was broken earlier.

Jeremy got to his feet and I knew where this was going. As Tyler went to punch Stefan in the face Stefan defected Tyler's punch and Jeremy came at Stefan by accident with the broken bottle.

"Jeremy, no," Elena and I said as the same time.

Stefan's hand was cut and Elena gasped. From my angle I saw it as clear as day and Stefan noticed this.

Matt tackled Tyler to the ground which was funny but I couldn't laugh because I was in shock.

"Get off me," Tyler said.

"Stop," Matt said.

Elena came up to Jeremy and remained were I was standing in shock. I continued to stare at Stefan who was looking down at his hand.

"What the hell, Jeremy?" Elena said. "Put your head up, you're bleeding," Elena said.

"I'm fine," Jeremy said.

"Yeah, you smell fine," Elena replied.

"Just stop, okay?" Jeremy said before he walked away by grabbing my wrist.

I was dragged quite a distance before I realised that Jeremy was dragging me along. I was still in shock.

"Stop it," I said as I pulled my hand away.

"Why didn't you help?" Jeremy asked.

"How was I meant to know you were going to punch him? You could have said 'hey I'm going to start a fight,'" I said. "And what am I mean to do against Tyler, I already went down that road once and I would rather not go down it again."

"Some friend you are," Jeremy said before walking off on his own.

I was left standing there. I decided that I was going to just let Jeremy walk it off.

I was going to go find Tristan or Stefan when my mother came up to me.

"Can you go to my car and get my jumper?" my mother asked.

"Why can't you do it?" I asked.

"I'm talking with someone important and I can't, please," she pleaded.

"Fine," I complained before I grabbed my mother's car keys from her hand and walked towards the car park.

I continued to walk and it became dark and lonely quickly. I opened the back of my mother's car looking for her jumper. It wasn't in the back so I closed it and turned. I was going to check in the front when I almost bumped into Damon.

"You scared me, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm hiding from Caroline," he whispered.

"I didn't know that you were dating Caroline and why?" I whispered back.

"I needed a break, she talks more than I can listen," Damon said.

"That could be a sign," I said.

"Well, she's awfully young," Damon said.

"Not much younger than you are."

"Yeah, I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture," Damon said. "I think she'd drive me crazy," he added.

"Caroline does have annoying traits and I'm the only one that likes to make fun of that but we used to be friends and that sort means something to me in an odd way," I replied.

"Duly noted," Damon said. "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable, that's not my intention."

It was silent a little bit because I was thinking.

"Yes, it is. Otherwise, you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say," I pointed out.

"You're right, I do have other intentions, but so do you," Damon said.

I was a little confused.

"Really?" I asked.

Damon made an agreeing sound.

"You want me," he said.

"Excuse me," I asked.

"I get to you, you find yourself drawn to me, you think about me when you don't wanna, I bet you've dreamed about me," Damon said.

My eyes went wide with shock. _How could he know? _I thought. Damon stared at my eyes.

"And right now, you wanna kiss me," he said.

Damon leaned closer towards me. He came closer and closer I realised that this was too weird and too creepy for me. I slapped Damon across the face.

"What the hell? I don't know what you're trying to accomplish but I don't wanna be a part of it, okay," I said before I walked away from Damon.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

"Good luck tonight, we're lucky to have you," Matt said before he walked off towards the lockers.

I stood there and noticed Tristan walking towards me. He was obviously coming to the locker room like all the other players.

"Why are you here?" I asked Tristan.

"I'm here because I can be and no offence, wait no I mean all the offence in the world, because I don't like you and I'm a better football player than you," he replied.

"You can't be here," I said.

"I can be wherever I want," Tristan replied before he turned and headed inside.

Once he was inside I heard Damon.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend and an enemy, it's all so, 'rah, rah, go team, yeah.'" Damon said.

"Not tonight, I'm done with you," I said as I headed towards the locker room.

Damon suddenly appeared in front of me blocking my way.

"Nice trick with Val, let me guess, vervain," he said.

I was a little surprised. I had given Elena a necklace with the last vervain I had so what was Damon talking about when he meant Val. I decided to run with it because I had an advantage over Damon if he couldn't compel Val. But I was going to have to find out what prevented the compulsion.

"I admit, I was a bit surprised, it's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion," Damon said. "Where'd you get it?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

I walked around him. I wanted to get to the locker room and get away from Damon.

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way or I could just eat her," Damon said.

I stopped walking. I didn't want Val to get hurt for something I said or did.

"No, you're not gonna hurt her, Damon," I said as I turned around to face him

"No?" Damon said as he faced me.

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her, I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be," I said.

"Who's pretending?"

"Then kill me," I said.

"Well," Damon replied. "I'm tempted."

"No, you're not, you've had lifetimes to do it and yet, here I am, I'm still alive and there you are, you're still haunting me after 145 years. Katherine is dead and Nicolette left and you hate me because you loved them, and you torture me because you still do and that, my brother, that is your humanity," I said.

There was silence between us. I heard someone come out of the locker room and come towards us.

"Salvatore what the hell, we've got a game to play," Mr Tanner said.

"If that's my humanity then what's this?" Damon asked.

Damon stepped around me and attacked Mr Tanner. Damon killed Mr Tanner by biting him in the neck and draining him of his blood.

"No!" I yelled.

"Anyone, any time, any place," Damon threatened.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

After my odd conversation or whatever it was with Damon I went off to find Tristan. That was of course after I told my mother that her jumper wasn't in her car. I would have went back to get it but I didn't want to give Damon another reason to talk to me. When I found Tristan he was heading towards the locker room for the game they had that night.

"Hey Tristan," I said to get his attention.

"Val, where did you go?" he asked.

"Friend troubles," I replied.

"I have to go get ready now," Tristan said.

"Have you seen Stefan?" I asked.

"No, sorry," Tristan replied.

"Okay," I replied.

Tristan gave me a hug and I was okay with that. Tristan walked off towards the locker room. The night went by and something happened to Mr Tanner. He had been attacked and killed. I know that I shouldn't feel like this because it wasn't normal but I was glad he was dead. It's not like I liked him so my feelings are justified.

After hanging around for a little longer I started to think about Stefan. I was worried about him and I needed to find out if he was okay. The odd thing was that I couldn't find him or even Tristan. But I found Elena.

I found her at her car she was going to leave by the looks of it.

"Hey Elena," I called out.

"Val," she asked.

"Yeah, is Stefan okay?" I asked. "I saw the fight and…" I paused.

"He's fine, he didn't get cut," Elena said.

_But I saw it, I really did_, I thought.

It was silent for a little bit. I didn't want to think about Stefan because the last time that happened I couldn't get to sleep and I liked sleeping.

"Hey can I come to your place, I want to talk with Jeremy, we sort of got in a fight," I asked.

"Sure," she replied.

"Thanks," I said before I walked around and got in her car.

We went straight to her house and once inside I sat on the lounge waiting for Jeremy to come home. I ended up falling asleep on the lounge with my feet on the armrest. If you thought that was a little weird my brother used to sleep in the armchair in our old house upside down. I don't know how he managed it but he did.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

After killing Mr Tanner I disappeared to leave Stefan with the body but I knew he wouldn't do anything. I cleaned up and I suddenly wanted to see Val.

Luckily she was still at the school but when I found her she was walking towards Elena and I wanted to talk to her alone.

"_Hey Elena," she yelled out._

"_Val," Elena asked._

"_Yeah, is Stefan okay?" she asked. "I saw the fight and…" she paused._

"_He's fine, he didn't get cut," Elena said._

There was silence and I knew Val was thinking. I didn't know what happened earlier because I hadn't seen it but I smelt the blood and I guessed that Stefan got cut and now this was confusing both Elena and Val.

"_Hey can I come to your place, I want to talk with Jeremy, we sort of got into a fight," Val said._

"_Sure," Elena replied._

_So Val was going to be Elena's house, I can get into that house_, I thought.

"_Thanks," Val said before she got into Elena's car._

I waited until Val was asleep because I changed my mind. I didn't want to talk to her because she might think it was a little weird because of earlier but I wanted to see her. I wanted to be near her.

She fell asleep on the lounge and even though it appeared odd I couldn't help but smile.

I stood beside the lounge and looked down at her. She seemed so peaceful when she was asleep. I ran my fingers along her hair. I missed that colour. I had never seen it until now. I ran the back of my fingers down her cheek. I couldn't help but sigh.

I knew she was going to wake up so I decided to leave and quickly.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I woke and found myself on the lounge. I didn't even remember going to sleep but I had. I didn't want to go back to my house because my mother would have been there. So I decided that Jenna wouldn't mind if I spent the night on the lounge. I rolled over so I was facing the back of the lounge and went back to sleep.

* * *

_**AN: I could tell you everything you need to know about The Vincentio II and how it prevents compulsion but there's no fun in that. I promise you'll find out why it is so important and why this fan fic was named after it. But I have to warn you that won't be for a very long time. Like until at least season 3 if I continue because the only person alive that really knows what it is and what it does is Klaus.**_


	11. Jealousy

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Jealousy**

* * *

_Elena's POV…_

I walked into the kitchen/dining room and found Jenna talking to the TV.

"Scum ball, scum bucket," Jenna said.

"Who are you talking too?" I asked as I continued into the kitchen

"Him," Jenna replied.

"The news guys?" I asked a little confused.

"Also known as Logan 'Scum' Fell did your mum tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?" Jenna asked.

"Oh, no way, you and him," I asked. "He's cute."

"He is not cute, there's nothing cute about him," Jenna replied.

I was about to head to the dining table and sit down so I could sort some stuff out when I noticed a note pinned to the fridge with my name written on the front. I placed the box down on the table and grabbed the note from the fridge.

I didn't know the handwriting but I had a feeling I knew who wrote it. I opened the note and started to read it.

_Hey Elena thanks for last night. I decided to leave before you got up. I have to deal with my mother and stuff. I didn't get a chance to talk to Jeremy but thanks anyway, Val._

I stood there for a second before I closed to the note and placed it in my pocket. I headed back over to the table as Jenna turned to TV off.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I had left Elena's house pretty earlier in the morning. The sky was starting to lighten because the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sight but I was too distracted because I was thinking about my mother. She wasn't going to react well to me being out all night. She didn't mind if she knew where I was but since I never texted or called her to tell her where I was she would be pretty worried.

I stepped through the front door of my house and I was waiting for my mother to step out of the living area but instead of my mother it was Tristan.

"What happened to you last night?" he asked.

When he spoke he didn't carry a worried tone. He just seemed to be asking because he was interested or possibly jealous but I could never be sure.

"You're mother wasn't happy when she left," he added.

"I knew that would happen, I stayed over at a friend's house," I said as I started to walk down the hallway.

Calling Elena my friend was a little odd but I was sort of thinking about Jeremy when I said that.

"I fell asleep and I forgot to call," I explained to Tristan in case he was worried.

He had always been good at hiding his emotions.

"She told me that since you never called that you had to go to the founder's party at the Lockwood mansion," Tristan said as I stepped past him in the living area.

I sighed loudly. I really didn't want to go to that because I didn't like dressing up or wearing a dress. I could pull one off but I didn't like wearing one.

Tristan must have noticed that I didn't like the idea of going to the Lockwood party.

"Would you like to go with me? It will be more fun with a date," he said.

I turned around to face him because I wasn't facing him anymore. I stared at him for a little while. I didn't really want to go on a date with Tristan but he was right. Turning up without a date would be worse. Plus it was the Lockwood mansion which meant Tyler Lockwood. So turning up with Tristan would be fun because I had a feeling that Tyler didn't like Tristan being a better football player than him.

"I guess I could go with you," I said.

He just smiled as a reply.

"But I haven't got a dress to wear," I said.

"That's no problem, I know the best place in town," Tristan said.

"Well aren't you prepared?"

* * *

_Val's mother POV…_

I left the house that morning because I had to meet up with someone. I trusted Tristan around Val even though he was sort of the reason why we moved to Mystic Falls.

"There you are," he said bringing me from my thoughts.

I stood and smiled over at Zach Salvatore.

"Zach," I said before we both sat down.

"Shannon," Zach said.

Zach and I have been friends for a little while now and that was it. We both knew about vampires. He didn't know that I knew that Stefan and Damon were vampires. I learned that from my husband well ex-husband. He knew a lot more than I knew and life was a lot dangerous for him.

The reason why I called Zach here was to tell him that Val was pretty much an identical match to her ancestor Nicolette. I had seen Damon the other night and I had to keep Val away from him. The only way to do that was to get Zach on side. He could help out a little.

"Why did you want to speak with me?" Zach asked.

"It's about Val and," I paused. "Damon," I said in a hushed tone.

"What about them?" he asked.

"Look I know what he is and I can't have them near each other," I said.

"That's sort of hard, she was at the boarding house the other day," Zach said.

"She was," I asked.

I didn't know about that.

"Yeah, what is this about?" Zach asked.

I wasn't sure how to explain this.

"Do you know how the McDaniel family left Mystic Falls during 1861?" I asked.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with Damon and Val," Zach asked.

"Well back in 1861 there was a girl named Nicolette McDaniel and she had a very close relationship with Damon. Val looks just like Nicolette, apart from the fact Val has silver white eyes which she got from my grandmother," I said.

"So you think Damon will hurt her because of Nicolette?" Zach whispered.

I nodded. I couldn't let any harm come to my daughter because of something she didn't have anything to do with.

"Is Damon the reason why they disappeared from Mystic Falls?" Zach asked.

"I've been told the whole story and it had nothing to Damon but you have to promise to not tell anyone, if people found this out they would start searching for the truth and the truth isn't good," I said.

"Okay I promise, I can try to keep Damon away from Val but," he paused. "He's stronger than me," he added.

"I know," I sighed.

There wasn't anything either of us could do to stop Damon getting what he wanted but I could at least try to stop him.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

I was sitting in the living room where I officially met Elena. I was reading through Stefan's homework. I don't really know why I was reading his homework but I was.

"Didn't know you were here," Zach said as he stopped at the side entrance to the room.

"Just going through Stefan's homework," I said. "Boy, this country has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why he wants to go to high school is beyond me. In the 70's, he went Ivy League, Harvard, I understood," I said. "Actually, no, I didn't get that either."

I watched Zach in the corner of my eye. He appeared uncomfortable around me, which was normal but I could sense something else. Something was different about him.

"Go ahead, purge. Get it out, what's on your mind?" I said.

"Why are you here, Damon?"

"To spend time with you, Zach, family is important," I lied.

"I know you. You always have a motive, so tell me, what is it this time? What do you have planned for Val?" he asked.

I was a little surprised that he knew of Val. Well technically I knew he knew Val but I didn't know that he knew of Nicolette since I had found every picture of her.

I quickly moved from the lounge and across the room. I grabbed Zach's throat.

"You are in no position to question me," I said.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Zach struggled to say.

"This is not upset, Zach," I replied.

"What going on?" Stefan asked as he came into the room.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I hate to admit it but Tristan did pick out a good dress when we went shopping. I was standing in my ensuite fixing up my hair. I hated bright colours so Tristan picked out a dark blue dress. It had more colour than anything else in my wardrobe but I liked it.

As I finished my hair I heard a knock on my bedroom door. I didn't know if it was Tristan or my mother who was also getting ready for the party.

"Come in," I said as I placed my hair curler on the basin.

The door opened as I packed up everything on my basin. I turned around to see Tristan standing in my room. I didn't know until now what sort of tux he was going to wear so I was a little surprised to see him there standing a blue tux that almost matched my dress.

I smiled as I stepped into my room. I wasn't a fan of high heels but I could wear them and since this dress didn't reach all the way down to my feet I had to wear them.

"You look amazing," he said in a whispered tone.

"Thank you," I replied.

When we got to the Lockwood mansion I saw Tyler standing outside greeting people. I really didn't want to get involved with Tyler that day so I held onto Tristan's arm.

"Is there something between you," Tristan asked as we stood in line.

"You could say, I hate him and he hates me," I replied.

When we reached the top of the stairs we faced Tyler because Tristan wanted to speak with him. Tyler stared at me in an odd way. It was different to every other time he looked at me.

"Val," he said almost in a whisper. "Welcome," he said in a normal tone.

This tone was normal but it was still different to what I was used too.

"Thank you Tyler," I said.

"Please come in," Tyler said to us.

"Thank you," Tristan said oddly in a happy tone.

Tristan and I stepped inside.

"That was different," I said.

"I was really expecting him to say something mean," Tristan said.

"Yeah, I had a comeback ready and everything," I said with a smile.

Tristan smiled back at me as we headed towards the open bar. We were both legally old enough to drink and I needed something to drink if I was going to last all night.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

After getting in the mansion I left to go off on my own. Caroline was practically my way into the party and that was it. She really didn't have any other purpose than being my little toy.

I thought about finding my brother and Elena but that thought disappeared when I noticed Val smiling with some guy. It didn't take me long to figure out that this was the same guy from the night of the football rally. He was the guy that Stefan talked to after Matt. I could tell there was something off about him.

He whispered into Val's ear and she smiled harder. I hated this guy so much. I didn't want to admit it but I was jealous of this guy because he got to be around Val and he was making her happy.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I remained with Tristan for most of the night. We were standing in the room where they had all the historical items. I was standing in the room staring down at the table.

The whistle/necklace that I had got from James wasn't the only he used to wear. He used to wear a ring. It was a family ring and I was standing there staring down at the ring. My mother had loaned it to the Lockwood's for this party. If I had known this I would have never let her do it because I had been looking for that ring for months. James promised that he would give it to me.

The ring was technically meant to be handed down through the family. The first born son would get the ring when they turned fifteen no matter if they were the first or last born in the family. So technically it was meant to go to James' first born son and at the time he didn't want to give it to his first born son when that time came. He said that he would always give it to me because I was a very important part of this family.

* * *

_**AN: Val's mother's name is Shannon which is important for the next chapter. The real reason why Nicolette left Mystic Falls had nothing to do with Damon at all. I'm not good at describing dresses because I honestly don't own any so you can imagine whatever you want, I'll just describe the colour and I'll try in the future to describe as best as I can.**_


	12. Shannon's Sudden Behaviour

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Shannon's Sudden Behaviour**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

"Was that your brothers?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah, there is a lot of history in that one ring," I said.

I was mainly thinking about the history between James and me. But there was also a lot of history because of the past. I stood there wondering why my family left Mystic Falls to begin with. I knew that my parents knew something about it but what were they hiding from me.

I continued to stand there until I noticed Elena and Stefan enter the room. I had noticed the two rings on loan from the Gilbert family and it didn't take a lot to figure out that they used to be her parents rings.

"Hey Val," she said after looking down at the rings.

"Hey," I replied.

For some reason after the other night things between Elena and I were pretty calm. I didn't really hate her as much as I did in the past.

"Did you get my note?" I asked wondering if she did because I haven't seen her until now.

"Yeah, thanks," she said with a smile. "Who is this?" Elena asked as she looked over at Tristan.

I hadn't noticed because I was paying attention to Elena but Stefan and Tristan were having some sort of moment. I think it had something to do with football.

"This is Tristan, he was an ex-boyfriend from before I moved here," I said.

"You must be Elena, I have heard a lot about you," Tristan said as he kissed the back of Elena's hand just like Damon had days earlier.

What Tristan had said didn't faze me because we went to the same school. If he had said that I told him a lot about Elena that would have annoyed me because I hadn't told him anything about Elena.

Moments later Elena and I were looking at the original registry from the first founder's party. Tristan had gone off to get something to drink. I didn't mind staying with Elena and Stefan.

"The founding families of Mystic Falls, welcomes you to the inaugural Founder's Council Celebration," Elena said as I read it in my head. "Wow look, it's the original guest registry, look at all these familiar names," Elena said as I started to read the names to myself.

Just by looking at the piece of paper I knew it was old.

"Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood," Elena said.

"Is that Damon Salvatore?" I asked as I noticed his name. "And Stefan Salvatore," I asked when I saw his name underneath Damon's name.

Confusion covered my face.

"The original Salvatore brothers," Damon said as he entered the room.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

I entered the room where Elena, Val and Stefan were with Caroline. The first thing I noticed was Val's confusion.

"The original Salvatore brothers," I said as I entered the room further.

Val's confusion started to fade away as she thought about what I said.

"Our ancestors, tragic story, actually," I continued.

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan said.

"It's not boring, Stefan, I'd love to hear more about your family," Elena said.

"Yeah, it's quite interesting," Val said.

"Well, I'm bored. I wanna dance and Damon won't dance with me," Caroline said like planned.

I shook my head.

"Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked.

I had planned to speak with Val on her own and use Caroline to get rid of the guy she was with but when he left the room to get a drink I changed my plan.

"Oh, uh…" Elena said.

"I don't really dance," Stefan said.

"Sure he does, you should see him, waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk, he does it all," I said.

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked.

I noticed that Val looked bored because she was left out of the conversation. But she also appeared happy because she was left out of the conversation. This was odd but that was something I liked about Val, she was odd and unpredictable.

"It's up to Stefan," Elena said bringing my attention back to her.

"Well, sorry, but I'm not gonna take no for answer," Caroline said as she reached over and grabbed Stefan's hand.

She dragged Stefan out of the room leaving me with Val and Elena.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

After Stefan and Caroline left it was silent between the three of us until Damon spoke to me.

"I wanna apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you, there's no excuse. My therapist says I'm acting out, trying to punish Stefan," Damon said.

_Yeah well maybe if you weren't so creepy you would have friends, _I thought.

"Why would you want to punish Stefan?" I asked.

"It's all in the past. I don't wanna bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry and it all started with the original Salvatore brothers," Damon said.

This seemed pretty understandable because I had heard that there was a lot of sibling rivalry in my family as well. The odd thing was the rivalry only happened when romantic relationships with others happened like what happened between Tristan and I. James changed after I started dating Tristan. I don't even know how to explain it. All I know is that James had a very strong dislike of him even before he got to know him.

"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town until the war, there was a battle here…" Damon said.

"The Battle of Willow Creek," Elena said cutting him off.

"Right," Damon replied.

"I know, we talked about it in class," Elena said as looked over at me.

I stood there thinking until I remembered that that was the battle Mr Tanner was speaking about.

"Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside," Elena said.

"What the history books left out was that the people that were killed, they weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive," Damon said.

I was a little shocked by this. How could anyone want to burn a bunch of people alive? But then I remembered that this a different time and life was different.

"Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church and when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood," Damon added.

"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" I asked.

"A woman, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" Damon said as he looked at me.

Elena was about to say something when my mother came into the room.

"Come with me," she said to me as she grabbed my wrist.

She basically dragged me out of the room as I looked at Damon.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

A little later I stepped outside with Elena. I realised after talking with Val that her mother was the one that told Zach about Nicolette because of the way she dragged out Val out of the room.

Val's mother was a problem for me and I hated problems. I was going to have to deal with her mother and soon. But if I did something to her mother Val might not want to ever see me again and I couldn't compel her into forgetting that I hurt or killed her mother because she wore vervain.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

"What are you doing?" I asked as my mother dragged me out the front door.

"We're going home," she said.

"Why? Why are we leaving?" I asked.

At first I didn't want to go to the party but now that I was here I didn't want to leave.

"We are leaving because I said so," she said.

I pulled my wrist free and stopped walking.

"I'm not leaving with you because this is crazy, what do you have against Stefan?" I asked. "And Damon?" I asked when I realised that she had just dragged me away from Damon.

"Look we have to go," she said as she stood there facing me.

"Why do we have to go? I know my father and you don't like them but why?" I asked as I crossed my arms.

She sighed and looked down at the ground. That was all I needed. From that I could tell that I was right, they were hiding something from me.

"He's dangerous," she said as she looked up at me.

I scoffed.

"I know he's creepy and strange but dangerous?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "You can't be around him," she said.

I quickly realised that this had nothing to do with Stefan.

"Wait, why are you only talking about Damon?" I asked.

"You aren't safe around him," she said.

"Why am I not safe around him? What is going on?" I asked getting angrier.

"I can't tell you, it's dangerous for you to know."

I decided then that I wasn't going to go anywhere with her if she wasn't going to explain what was going on. I turned and headed back to the party.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Away from you," I replied.

* * *

_Damon's POV…_

I managed to get away from Caroline for a couple of minutes but when I went to find Val I couldn't find her until I found her outside the front talking with her mother.

"_I know he's creepy and strange but dangerous?" Val asked._

"_Yeah," her mother replied. "You can't be around him," she added._

There was silence for a moment.

"_Wait, why are you only talking about Damon?" Val asked._

"_You aren't safe around him," her mother said._

"_Why am I not safe around him? What is going on?" Val asked._

"_I can't tell you, it's dangerous for you to know."_

She turned and started to walk back towards the party.

"_Where are you going?" her mother asked._

"_Away from you," Val replied._

I was right about Val's mother being the one that told Zach about Nicolette because it sounded as if she knew everything. I wanted to hurt her so much for coming between Val and me but I couldn't because she was Val's mother and she might know why Nicolette left.

Since I was standing nowhere near the front door Val didn't see me as she went back inside. But when I looked back over at her mother she was looking at me. I couldn't help but smile. I didn't care if she could or couldn't see my smile but I would have preferred her to see the smile.

I headed back inside after Val. I was tempted to talk with Val but first I had something a little more important to do. I headed upstairs luckily now it was almost completely empty.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I spent the rest of the night avoiding Tristan because he was close friends with my mother and I had a feeling that he knew something that I didn't know as well. I kept walking around until I came outside and found Damon standing by himself.

"Val," he said.

"Hey, I'm sorry about my mother, she's," I paused.

I was unsure how to describe what to say because I didn't want to go into the truth.

"It's okay, you didn't miss much," Damon said.

Everything was pretty calm between us. He didn't try anything funny on me which I was glad because of what just happened with my mother.

Elena suddenly came up to us with anger planted on her face.

"There is something seriously wrong with you, you stay away from Caroline or I will go to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her," Elena said angry.

She almost scared me when she spoke but I was more shocked by what she meant. He had done something to Caroline and my mother just said that he was dangerous. Elena grabbed my wrist lighter than my mother had dragged me away from Damon. I was in shock so I really didn't do anything.

I looked back at Damon and stared at me before turning and heading inside. There was anger on his face.

* * *

_**AN: There isn't much to say but I'm sorry about all the jumping. I mean from different points of view all the time but I couldn't really write this without doing that because it involves pretty much everyone.**_


	13. The Truth Sort of Comes Out

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**The Truth Sort of Comes Out**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

Elena dragged me along until I snapped out of my shock.

"What is going?" I asked.

"Damon has been hurting Caroline," Elena said as she let go my wrist.

"He has," I asked softly.

I couldn't believe what was going on. My mother had just said that he was dangerous and I didn't believe her. I continued to walk with Elena as we headed over to Stefan who was standing by the lake.

"I'm sorry, I take it all back," Elena said as we reached him. "You're completely right about Damon," Elena added.

"What did he do?" Stefan asked.

"There are bruises all over Caroline's body, bite marks," Elena said.

Shock filled me again. My mother was right and even though I hated her being right I wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"And he has her all confused and messed up in the head," Elena continued.

I said nothing because I was in shock. Caroline had got hurt and I think it was my fault. Damon was trying to get to me, I think and I didn't want that. I was hoping that it wasn't my fault but I knew differently.

"You don't look surprised," Elena said bringing me from my thoughts.

"Ah… I'm handling it," Stefan replied.

"Handling it?" I asked.

"Stefan, you should be having him arrested," Elena said.

"Elena, please," Stefan said before he looked over at me. "I… I don't expect you to both understand," Stefan said.

"I don't understand anything Stefan, so why don't you just clear it up for me?" Elena pleaded.

_Yeah I would like someone to clear it up for me too_, I thought.

"Look, there are things that you don't know, okay? Things that I want to tell you," Stefan said to Elena. "And you," he added as he quickly looked at me. "But I can't and I may never be able to and I just need you to trust me," Stefan said.

"Trust is earned, I can't just magically hand it over," Elena said.

"Yeah," I said in a whisper.

There was a short silence.

"I'm so sorry, I have to go," Stefan said before leaving us.

I stood there staring at Elena and Elena stared at me.

"I have to go," I said.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked.

"I have to apologise to my mother," I said I started to walk away.

"Wait why?" Elena asked.

"I'll tell you later, I promise," I called out to her.

I headed away from the Lockwood mansion and towards my house. At this rate it would take at least an hour but I didn't care. I was just hoping that Damon didn't appear. That was something he had done a couple times now.

I was lucky because I didn't run into him or anyone which was good.

I stepped inside my house and headed down the hallway. I hadn't noticed because the cold air had made my face a little numb but I had been trying to prevent tears coming forward. I kept blaming myself for what happened to Caroline.

In the living area my mother was sitting on the lounge reading a book. I knew she was waiting up for me and I didn't have a problem with that. She looked over at me and closed her book when she noticed that I had stopped moving.

I stood there as still as I could because I was in shock. I still couldn't believe what happened. She got off the lounge and came over to me. She wrapped her arms around me before she asked me what happened.

"Damon has been hurting Caroline and it's my fault," I said as the tears escaped my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

"Hey, it's not your fault," she said calmly as she ran her hand over my hair. "You didn't know what was happening," she said.

At that point I no longer cared why Damon was dangerous and why I wasn't safe around him because my mother was right he was dangerous and that's all that matter.

"But if I just kissed him when he told me too this would have never happened," I said.

"He told you to kiss him?" my mother asked pulled us apart and looked at me.

"Yeah, he was staring in my eyes and told me to kiss him. It was really weird and creepy so I slapped him and walked away," I said honestly.

She looked at me oddly before speaking.

"Has he tried this before?" she asked.

I thought about it quickly and as far as I knew he hadn't tried it.

"No, it happened that night when you told me to get your jumper," I said.

"Okay, everything is going to be okay," she said before she pulled me into another hug.

* * *

_Zach's POV…_

After we placed Damon in the dungeon under the boarding house I received a call from Shannon, Val's mother.

"_Did you give Val vervain before the football rally night?" she asked suddenly._

"No, I haven't given her anything," I replied.

"_She must have some because Damon tried to compel her and it didn't work," Shannon said._

Stefan came into the room at the same time she spoke. I looked over at Stefan. I knew he would have been listening to my conversation.

"I didn't give her any," Stefan said.

"Stefan said that he didn't give her any," I told Shannon.

"_You trust him," she asked._

"Yeah, he's different to Damon," I said.

I continued to look over at Stefan and he appeared to be thinking.

"_Okay," Shannon replied._

"Val has this necklace that I noticed when we were talking that night she came over," Stefan said.

"Stefan said that Val has a necklace that she was wearing that night you two came over, do you know about this necklace," I asked.

There was silence on the other end. Shannon was thinking.

"_Does Stefan know what it looked like?" she asked._

"It appeared to be an item made of metal about ten centimetres in length," Stefan said to me.

I repeated what he said to me to Shannon.

"_James' whistle," she replied in almost a whisper._

"James as in your son," I asked remembering that James died six months ago.

"_Yeah he told me that he lost it but he must have given it to her, they were always close," Shannon said._

"So this whistle is imbedded with vervain?"

"_I don't understand how because he got it from his…" she paused. "I should have known," she said mostly to herself._

"Who gave him the whistle?" I asked.

"_His grandmother on his father's side, she was the one to tell me about vampires and Stefan and Damon," Shannon said._

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

"_His grandmother on his father's side, she was the one to tell me about vampires and Stefan and Damon," Val's mother said._

I had made a guess and guessed that Zach told Val's mother about vampires since they were close but when I heard this I started to think. If Val's mother learned everything from Val's grandmother and her mother in-law that meant either Val's father side of the family was the side that was related to Nicolette or they were hiding something big. But how could Nicolette have known that Damon and I were vampires if she never came back to Mystic Falls. I continued to think until I realised that we didn't know about her coming back to Mystic Falls because she officially never did but she was in love with Damon so she could have come back to check up on us and I had a bad feeling that she came back the night we died. It made sense if that happened but I would never know if that was the truth or not.

"It's probably best if you let her keep the whistle," Zach said.

"_Okay, thank you Stefan," she said because she knew I was listening._

I continued to think. If Val got the whistle from James and James got it from his grandmother then why didn't Nicolette have the whistle when I knew her? This is the first time I had ever known of this whistle. Nicolette wasn't a jewellery type of person.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I lied in my bed but I couldn't stop thinking about Damon. I was so worried that he was going to come for me. I couldn't go to sleep so I sat up and leant against the wall at the head of my bed.

There was a knock on my bedroom door. I didn't say anything because I couldn't and I didn't know what to say. The door opened and Tristan walked into the room. He turned the light on as he came over to the bed.

"I heard what happened and I decided to do something reckless," he said as he sat on the edge of my bed and faced me.

He held out his hand and on his hand was James' ring which had been at the Lockwood mansion.

"You stole it," I said.

"Technically I just took it back," Tristan said. "Instead of getting it back later I figured you would want it now," he added.

I smiled softly as I reached over and grabbed the ring. I placed it on my right hand on my middle finger like James used to do. As I looked up at Tristan I noticed that he had moved closer.

He leaned closer and kissed me gently on the lips. I kissed him back before he stood and left my room. He turned the light off as he left and even though I couldn't see the ring I continued to stare at it.

* * *

_General POV…_

"Thank you for staying so late," Mayor Lockwood said as he entered the room.

"Did you get the Gilbert watch and the McDaniel ring?" Sheriff Forbes asked.

"She claims it's packed away in her parents' things and the ring is missing, someone has stolen it," Miss Lockwood said.

"I can get the Gilbert watch," Logan Fell said.

"Good, we're gonna need it."

"Are you sure?" Mayor Lockwood asked.

"Five bodies all drained of blood, I'm certain," Sheriff Forbes replied.

"They've come back," Logan said.

"That's why we need to get the watch and the ring, who would have stolen the ring?" Mayor Lockwood asked.

"The only people from back in the day that knew what the ring could do were Kenneth McDaniel, William Forbes and Benjamin Lockwood," Sheriff Forbes replied. "And we are the only ones today that know what it is capable of," she added.

"Is it possible that Val McDaniel stole it? We know that she could do it," Mrs Lockwood asked.

"It is very possible that she has it now but how do we get it back, she's smart and technically she didn't really steal it if it belongs to her family," Logan said.

"True," Sheriff Forbes said.

For all they knew it could have meaning to her and that's why she took it so they couldn't just arrest her for stealing when it was on loan to the Lockwood family. She had just taken it back before they had the chance to give it back.

"We need to get that ring because without it whoever uses the watch is at risk," Mayor Lockwood said.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I continued to stare at the ring until my phone started to ring. I reached over and grabbed it off the bedside table. I noticed that I didn't know the number but I answered anyway.

"Hello," I said.

"_Hey Val, it is Elena," she said._

I didn't need her to tell me that it was her but it was nice.

"How did you get my number?" I asked.

"_Jeremy, I asked and he gave," she replied. "He told me to tell you that he doesn't hate you because of the other night," she added._

I had completely forgotten to talk to him about that.

"Thanks," I said.

"_I just called to check if you're okay, you seemed pretty shocked."_

"Yeah well I'm okay now, thanks for asking," I said.

"_I'm glad that we agreed on this truce," Elena said._

"Me too," I replied.

For some reason making the truce with Elena was making me like her a little more. I guess now that she's not judging me on the past and my friendship with Jeremy things is pretty cool between us.

"Is Caroline okay?" I asked.

"_She's a little shaken up but I think she's going to be okay, she's missed you, you know the old you," Elena said._

"I sort of have too," I replied.

"_Well good night Val."_

"Good night Elena."

Elena hung up and I placed my phone back on my bedside table before I rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

_**AN: The whistle does come from the side of the family that is related to Nicolette if that wasn't clear. The secret council knew about the ring being back in Mystic Falls since Val and her family came back to Mystic Falls but they didn't play a part in James' death. At first the council didn't believe that they were related to the founding family McDaniel but when they saw the ring on James' hand they knew that they were related to the original family. Kenneth McDaniel was Nicolette's father. I know I said that said that Val and Elena have their issues but with everything that is happening and everything that is going to happen they will get closer.**_


	14. Awkward Moments

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Awkward Moments**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I sat next to Jenna playing with James' ring on my finger. I had come over to talk to Jeremy but when Jenna told me what was going on upstairs I decided to stay downstairs. I had nothing against Jeremy being with Vicki. I was actually happy for him.

The reason why I didn't leave when I found out was because Stefan had just disappeared. Sure I got a message that told me that he wouldn't be around for a couple days but to me he technically disappeared.

It has been three days since I got that message and those three days have given me time to calm down from what happened at the party. I no longer blamed myself but I still felt a little guilty that Caroline got hurt by Damon.

"Jenna," Elena whispered as she came into the kitchen. "Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?" she asked before she smiled over at me.

Over the last three days Elena and I have been getting closer. We were okay friends now that she understood that I only wanted to be friends with Jeremy and nothing more. I had a feeling that she still felt I had bad things planned for him but I was hoping after this morning that would change.

"Uh-huh," Jenna replied.

"And you have no objection?" Elena asked.

"He could be craftier about it. At least make an effort to sneak her in and out," Jenna said.

Elena walked over to one of the cupboards in the kitchen and started to make her breakfast.

It was odd because when I told my mother that I needed to get out of our house and do something she had no objection. I think it was because I now knew that Damon was dangerous and I was going to avoid him at all costs, which had been easy because he has disappeared as well.

"Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner," Jenna said.

"Oh. So you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan," Elena replied as she started making her cereal.

"Who's Logan?" I asked.

"The news guy," Elena replied.

"I'm gonna show up and torture him, yes," Jenna said.

"I don't like the news," I said randomly.

"I don't like it much either," Elena said. "But he is cute," Elena added as she looked up at me.

"Haven't noticed," I replied.

"Have you heard from Stefan?" Jenna asked.

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago," I said.

"'Hi. Um, Elena, I, um… I have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days," Elena said imitating Stefan.

I smiled as she said that.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna asked.

"Nope, not going to either," Elena replied.

"And you're okay with everything?"

"No, I'm not okay with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it either. I was gonna write in my diary, and then I thought: 'what am I gonna write?' I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy," Elena said.

"Okay, then," Jenna replied.

"Yeah," I said just as shocked as Jenna.

"I'll be fine," Elena said before walking out of the kitchen with her cereal.

I exchanged a look with Jenna before shrugging.

* * *

I got a lift to school with Elena but I brought my skateboard because I had brought it over to Elena's house that morning. I leant against the row of lockers with my skateboard in my arms and one foot leaning on one of the lower lockers.

"The sexy Suds Car Wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band, just the ones who can pull off a bikini. I want in-your-face sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake," Caroline said as her little possie followed.

"Unbelievable," I said.

"It's like nothing happened," Elena said.

"She's in denial," Bonnie said.

I spotted Stefan before he made it up to us. Just seeing Stefan at school after so long put my day off.

"Hey," Stefan said to us.

Elena turned to face Stefan while I was already staring at him. Bonnie suddenly appeared awkward.

"Hey, uh, you know. I gotta go… uh, be somewhere right now," she said before she walked away.

"I should really go too," I said as I turned.

"Please don't go," Stefan said.

I turned back to face Stefan and Elena. Elena seemed okay with me staying so I decided to stay.

"I'm so sorry I haven't called, either of you," Stefan said.

"No worries, I'll live," Elena said while I shrugged.

"I was dealing with Damon," Stefan said.

"And did you, deal with Damon?" I asked.

I was angry that Damon would hurt Caroline like Elena said he had. But I still felt guilty for the whole thing. But the anger covered my guilt.

"Yes, yeah," he replied.

"For four days?" Elena asked.

"You have every right to be upset with me, but can I explain it all to you, please?" Stefan asked.

"Sure. When," Elena asked.

"I gotta be home after school, but The Grill around 4 o'clock," Stefan said.

I nodded slightly.

"Okay," Elena said.

"Thanks."

Caroline came over to us.

"Stefan, where's Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do," Caroline said.

"He's gone, Caroline," Stefan said.

_Good, _I thought.

"When's he coming back?" Caroline asked.

"He's not coming back," Stefan replied.

His reply shocked me a little but not enough for me to express it. The way he said it almost sounded like he killed him but that couldn't be the case because that was something my imagination would come up with for a solution. It was something that I wouldn't do and a normal person wouldn't do unless they were mentally wrong and Stefan wasn't. As far as I knew he wasn't. Plus it was illegal and everything.

"I'm sorry," Stefan said.

Stefan looked at Elena and me before walking off. Caroline appeared a little shocked that Damon wasn't coming back. I was a little shocked myself by what just happened. Stefan seemed so calm.

"This is a good thing, Caroline," Elena said as she held Caroline.

"I know that," Caroline replied.

At that moment the guilt started to flow over my anger.

* * *

After school I headed home with Tristan because he had gone to school that day even though he missed half of the morning classes. He didn't tell me where he went but he promised that it was important and that it had nothing to do with me.

I was sort of glad it had nothing to do with me but I was sort of jealous as well.

Elena and I were going to meet Stefan at The Grill at four so I got to spend a little time with Tristan at my house. I know it should be odd that Tristan was living with my mother and me but it wasn't because he had spent a month living with us when we lived in New York.

* * *

When four o'clock came around I was already at The Grill because my mother had left for work and said she could drop me off at The Grill.

Before Elena arrived I had an odd chat with the Sheriff who I remembered was Caroline's mother. That must be a hard life.

"Val isn't it," she said as she stepped up to me.

I had been sitting at the bar because you could see everything from the bar.

"Yeah," I replied.

She held out her left hand and I shook her hand with my right hand. Her eyes seemed to look down at our hands like mine had. It wasn't that odd but it still gave me an odd feeling.

I saw Elena step inside The Grill and I decided to go over to her.

"It was nice meeting you again," I said before I walked away.

I had met her before. It was when we first came to town.

I walked over to Elena.

"Is Stefan here?" she asked.

"Let me think, I just walked over to you without Stefan so I'm going to say no," I said.

Elena just smiled because she was getting used to the way I talked.

"Stupid question," she said.

"Yep," I replied.

We stood there chatting a little more until we decided to ask Matt if he had seen Stefan since I hadn't been looking the whole time. I was the one that suggested that we should ask Matt since he had been here longer than the both of us.

"Hey, Matt," Elena said. "Um, have you seen Stefan?" she asked.

I decided to let her talk to Matt since I haven't talked to him since he attempted to talk to me on the Night of the Comet thing in the town square.

"Nope," he replied.

I shrugged and started to walk away. Elena followed me.

"But if you wanna kill sometime, you can rack," Matt said.

"I suck at pool," I lied.

Elena just remained silent as she thought about it.

"Come on, we haven't played in forever," Matt said. "I'll let you break," he suggested.

I sat stood to the side as they started to play. I wasn't that bad at pool but I didn't want to wreak their moment with my awesome pool playing skills.

They started to talk about Jeremy and Vicki and I had nothing against their opinions because it was their brother and sister.

"And there's Vicki all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up," Elena said.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, your brother and my sister, that's weird," Matt said as he quickly looked over at me.

"Don't look at me, I found out when two found out," I said.

"Yeah," Elena said.

Elena checked her phone for the time because Stefan was totally late.

"How late is he?" Matt asked.

"Hitting the hour mark, nothing wrong, though," she said. "Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you," Elena added.

"Good, I mean, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything," Matt said.

Elena scoffed before she spoke again.

"Okay. Here goes, what do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?" Elena asked Matt.

I was tempted to jump in make a comment but I didn't.

"Why? What's he done?" Matt asked.

I started to get interested.

"Not any one thing, he's just so secretive all the time. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me wanna know all the more," Elena said.

I realised that she was just like me but in a different context. I knew there was something that my parents didn't want me to know, which makes me wanna know more.

"Like what that's he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" Matt asked.

Shock filled me because that was something my imagination imagined when Stefan said that Damon wasn't coming back at school earlier that day. Well minus the clown suit.

"No, of course not, but what do we know about him, really?" Elena asked.

"He's great at football," Matt said.

Elena and I scoffed. That was typical thing for Matt to say.

"Little bit of a loner and as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy," Matt said.

"So you think I'm just being paranoid?" Elena asked.

"Yep," I said.

Elena looked at me sharply and I smiled.

"I think you should talk to him," Matt said.

"Talk to whom?" Stefan asked.

Elena, Matt and I looked towards Stefan who wasn't there minutes ago.

"I'm so sorry that I'm late," he said.

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"I got held up."

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

Stefan walked towards the pool table and us.

"There's this thing with my uncle," Stefan said.

I started to get a little worried for Zach.

"And you couldn't call and tell us you're gonna be an hour late?" Elena asked.

"Technically he couldn't call me, he doesn't have my number," I said.

I didn't have to say it but I liked to say things like that. The only reason I got the message Elena got was because Elena told me.

"Okay, you three have fun," Matt said before he left.

"I'm really sorry. It was unavoidable," Stefan said once Matt was gone.

I started to get the feeling that I should leave but I really didn't want Stefan begging for me to stay again.

"What was unavoidable?" Elena asked.

Stefan looked down to the floor before he looked back up at Elena.

"Okay?" Elena said.

I really wanted to leave now.

"No, Elena. Please," Stefan said.

"No, Stefan, don't you get it? Every question gets a vague non-answer. What is so awful that you're afraid to tell me?" Elena asked.

"I know you," an old man said.

This wouldn't have been that odd if he was talking to Elena or Stefan because they have both lived here in the past but he was staring at me.

* * *

_**AN: I really had no idea what I was going to put into this chapter to make it different from the show until I came to the part where the old man says he recognises Stefan. I hope you don't hate me changing that part but I thought it would be fun to have that in there.**_


	15. Nicolette's Return

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Nicolette's Return**

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I stood there in complete silence as our eyes locked. I have never seen this man in my entire life. I haven't even seen anyone that looked like him.

"My god," he whispered.

"I'm sorry," Stefan said as he noticed what was going on.

I'm pretty sure it was written all over my face. The old man seemed to ignore Stefan completely as we continued to stare at each other.

"I know you, how can it be?" the old man said.

At that point I remembered that I could speak. Well technically I snapped out of my shock.

"I think you have the wrong person, sir," I said.

"You haven't aged a day," he replied.

I quickly looked over at Stefan and Elena. Elena's face was full of confusion and Stefan just stood there with hardly any emotion but I could still see the shock and confusion on his face.

"I'm sorry," I said to the old man. "Excuse me," I said before I walked away and headed towards the door.

"Wait," Elena yelled out to me.

I stopped because what else could I do. I didn't know what just happened and I didn't really want to think about it because that never ended up anywhere good.

"What was that?" Elena asked when she reached me.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "Nothing," I said trying to get it off my head.

"Nothing," she asked.

I just nodded.

"Okay, I gotta go," she said.

She sounded unconvinced and I didn't plan to change her mind because I didn't know how to change someone's mind once you've told them the truth and they still think you're lying.

I stood there and watched as Elena left. I turned back to face the old man that had interrupted us. He was still standing were I had left him the only difference was he had turned and was now facing me again. Another thing I noticed was the fact that Stefan was gone. Sure he could have gone out a different door or even slipped past me but he did seem a little odd when the old man recognised me.

* * *

_General POV…_

Logan Fell walked up to the bar where the Sheriff was already standing.

"Anything?" he asked.

"We went over the entire west side of the lake. All the caverns by the falls were clean. No signs of habitat," she replied.

"Then they're staying in town."

"We canvassed all abandoned buildings and warehouses."

"There has to be private residence," Logan suggested.

"And that much harder to locate if not impossible," Sheriff Forbes replied. "These creatures are smart they know how to go undetected."

"Well someone who only comes out at night should eventually become obvious," Logan said.

"What about the watch?"

"I'm working on it and the ring?" Logan asked.

"Not good. Val has the ring, I saw it earlier. But I don't know if she knows what it is," Sheriff Forbes said. "I knew the Gilberts. That watch is passed down to the men in the family. I'd start with Jeremy," she said.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I had thought about walking home but I knew if I started walking home I would start thinking about what happened at The Grill and I really didn't want that. I sat in the town square trying to distract myself from what happened and it was working.

My phone started ringing and me being me I didn't check the caller I.D to find out who it was. But it wouldn't have made a difference.

"Hello," I said calmly.

"_Val, its Stefan, I'm cooking dinner for Elena tonight, it's a secret and I kind of need a little help," he said._

I didn't want to help Stefan cook or have anything to do with cooking but I needed something to clear my head or I never going to get to sleep.

"Okay, what can I help with?" I asked.

"_Where's the best place to get Italian ingredients?" Stefan asked._

"I know the best place," I replied. "I'm at the town square now, so if you want to meet me here I'll show you the place," I added.

"_Okay," he replied._

I continued to sit in the town square until Stefan turned up. It wasn't that much longer and I was glad he turned up pretty quick.

"This is the best mozzarella the store has, it's not as good as homemade but it'll do," I said as I tossed Stefan the container.

"How do you know?" Stefan asked.

"I went through this whole Italian food faze. My mother can't cook, my father has no style and my brother could only cook microwave food, so that left me," I replied.

"So do you not like doing it anymore?" Stefan asked.

I was silent for a second because I was thinking.

"I guess I still like it, it's just when James died," I paused. "Things changed, even though he was the clumpiest person in the kitchen I have ever met," I said with a smile.

"Would you like to help me out tonight?" Stefan asked being friendly.

"Three's a crowd and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't need my help, Mr I-have-an-Italian-last-name. You should be good," I replied as we started to walk around the store.

After I helped Stefan out, we split ways out the front of the store. He headed off towards Elena's house and I thought about heading home but I turned around to face the store I had just come out of.

* * *

_Tristan's POV…_

"Look I know that being in Mystic Falls is dangerous but Val is my friend and I have made a promise," I said.

"_If you don't leave soon, she's going to get you killed if you're cocky behaviour doesn't kill you first," Roseanne replied._

"Roseanne you should know that I'm not afraid of Stefan and Damon Salvatore," I said.

"_I know you're not afraid of them but it's going to get you killed," she said._

I got out of my car and headed towards Val's house. It was close to eleven at night but I had told Val and her mother that I wouldn't be home until later. I decided that since I was staying in town and in their house that I should get a job so that it wasn't that odd. Money isn't a problem for me and I really didn't want to explain or lie where I get it.

"If I get killed you have full permission to kill them," I said. "Good night Roseanne," I added.

"_You may be older but you're still a child," she said before she hung up._

I opened the front door of Val's house and I was greeted by the smell of food. It was good smell and it took me a couple seconds to realise that it wasn't Val's mother cooking because that was a bad smell every time.

I closed the door and walked down the hallway to find Val in the kitchen and her mother standing by the dining table with a shocked expression on her face. I looked back over at Val and I noticed that she was placing something in the oven. She stood up and closed the oven door with foot.

"That should be done in half an hour," she said before she left the room and went into her room.

As soon as her door closed I looked over at her mother and she looked at me.

"What is going on?" I asked.

I knew this wasn't normal behaviour. Well for the new Val anyway. Her mother had told me that she quit cooking and anything to do with it.

"She's been cooking all night," her mother said. "The fridge has been cleaned out," she added.

I walked over to the kitchen part of the room and found cookies on the bench.

Suddenly Val's bedroom door opened and she came out.

"I forgot these," she said. "Those ones at that end just came out," she added before returning to her room.

It was silent for a couple minutes and I decided to have a cookie. She was a good chef and I was shocked when she gave it.

"This is really odd because the last time she cooked this much in one night was when she was trying to distract herself on that night you broke your rib cage," her mother said.

"So you think she's trying to distract herself?" I asked.

Her mother nodded.

"Well if that's true I think we should just let her to do, the old Val is what we both want back isn't it," I asked.

"Yeah," her mother said.

* * *

_Stefan's POV…_

After I spent the night with Elena cooking and eating I came home. As I stepped through the front door I instantly heard Damon breathing. It was slow and very weak but he was still able to move.

It was odd because as I made my way to my room I started to think about Val and that old man from The Grill.

The only way for that man to recognise Val the way he did was if he had seen her before in the past but the shock in her face told me that she had never met the guy. Unless he never actually met her and seen a picture off her. As far as I knew Damon came back to Mystic Falls to destroy the photos and the vervain but he could have kept them had since it was early in his vampire life it wouldn't be that odd. But why would he still have them?

The following morning I went to check on Damon but I was still thinking about the night before and I was thinking about Val. I didn't want to confront Damon with what I knew but I had to know what he did with those photos.

I looked past the bars in the door and down at Damon. He had moved. He was now curled in the corner. I wasn't sure if I should just go out and ask him about the photos so I decided to leave.

As I started to walk away he spoke.

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?" he asked weakly.

I walked back to the bars in the door and looked down at him.

"Not particularly," I replied.

"You won, you got the bad guy," he said. "Now nothing can come between you and Elena and nothing can hurt Val," he added.

There was a pause between what he said but I'm pretty sure it's just because he was weak.

"Except the truth, the lies will catch up to you, Stefan. Long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are," Damon said.

"As long as you keep lying to yourself your lies will catch up to you one day," I replied.

"And what would I have to lie about?" he asked weakly.

"Nicolette," I said.

Damon tried to growl at me but it sounded like anything but a growl.

"The beauty of you in there and me out here is that I can walk way," I said before I walked away.

* * *

_Elena's POV…_

I was sitting at the pay desk. Even though I didn't want to think about I couldn't help think about what happened last night at The Grill. Was it just an honest mistake or something more?

"That'll be 20 dollars," I said as I looked up.

I saw the old man that was at The Grill last night. It was the same old man that said he knew Val.

"Okay," he replied.

I realised in that moment that if I didn't say anything that I would hate myself for the rest of the day for not saying anything.

"I saw you last night. You were talking to a friend of mine," I said. "At The Grill," I added.

"Well, I thought it was somebody I knew," he replied.

"Val McDaniel," I said.

"No, Nicolette McDaniel, but it can't be. It was just my mind playing tricks on me," he said.

I was intrigued and a little shocked.

* * *

_**AN: The title doesn't mean that Nicolette is returning in person as you have just read. It's just saying that Val – who looks like Nicolette – starts to find out that odd things are happening about her.**_


	16. Weird Much

**The Vincentio II**

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Weird Much**

* * *

_Elena's POV…_

"Where do you think you'd seen her before?" I asked.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at The Salvatore Boarding House. I found this book that was filled with photos of her. I didn't know who it belonged to until I met Damon. None of us knew he was even here until the attack," he said.

_Did he say Damon?_ I thought for a second until I remembered he mentioned an attack.

"The attack," I asked.

"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods," the old man said.

"His uncle, Zach," I asked.

I was fairly certain that Zach was still alive but I hadn't actually seen him around town.

The old man shook his head before replying.

"Joseph," he said.

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't think I'm familiar with the story," I said.

"Well how could you? I mean, this happened years ago," he replied.

I sat there thinking. What did Damon have to do with an attack on someone named Joseph and was Stefan involved? Was this why I was getting an odd feeling about him?

"Grandpa, you gotta go. Mum wants you home. Okay?" Tiki said bringing me from my thoughts.

He turned and started to walk away.

"He wasn't bugging you, was he?" she asked.

"No, he was sweet," I said as I got up and walked after the man.

It didn't take me long to catch up to him.

"Hey, sir, I'm sorry. Are you sure that the man that you knew, his name was Damon Salvatore?" I asked hoping that I could find out what was going on.

"Yeah, I remember his ring and his brother," he replied.

"Stefan," I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Stefan and Damon Salvatore," he added.

"When was this?" I asked.

"It was early June," he said. "1953. Yeah, June, 1953," he repeated.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

I had sent a message to Elena early that morning telling her that I wasn't going to the car wash thing. It wasn't my thing anymore.

I came out of my room that morning. I found Tristan sitting at the dining table eating one of my cookies from last night.

"Are you going to the car wash thing today?" he asked.

"No, it's not my thing," I replied as I headed into the kitchen area.

"So what are we doing today?" he asked.

"Aren't you meant to go," I asked.

"I would rather spend the day with you," Tristan said.

"Well I haven't really got anything planned for the day," I said just before my phone started ringing.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and answered it. Yet again I didn't check the caller I.D. I just didn't see the point.

"Yeah," I said.

"Val you up for a party in our favourite place?" the person on the other asked.

It took me a couple seconds too figured out who it was. I looked over at Tristan and he just looked at him. If he wanted to spend the day with me let's see how far he'll go.

"Alright, I'm in only if I get to bring someone," I said.

"More people more fun," Tony said.

"Been there soon," I replied before I hung up.

I put my phone in my pocket before I walked towards Tristan. I didn't care about the coffee that I was going to make anymore.

"Are you sure you want to spend the day with me?" I asked.

He was silent for a second.

"Yeah," he said.

"Good because we are getting stoned in a cemetery," I said as I grabbed his arm.

I headed towards the kitchen bench where I had left my skateboard last night.

"Wait, what?" he asked.

"You said you wanted to spend the day with me."

"But I thought…"

"No buts."

I grabbed my skateboard and continued to drag Tristan out of the house. He didn't put up a fight.

"Alright but if I break any bones this time…"

"Come on, that wasn't even my fault," I said as I opened the front door.

"You suggested the idea."

"It's not my fault you couldn't stay on the roof."

"I could have died."

"It's not my fault."

Tristan and I left my house. He decided to drive to the cemetery because I knew that if he didn't suggest it that we would end up arguing the entire time we walked about whose fault it was because he fell off the roof of the van that night.

The reason why I brought my skateboard is because I had a gut feeling that I was going to need it because either Tristan would chicken out or give up early. I was going to go for an all-nighter.

When we arrived I didn't have to drag Tristan into the cemetery.

"Val!" Jared yelled as I saw him.

"You started without me," I said.

"We started yesterday, where were you?" Tony asked.

"I had things to do," I replied.

"Who's this?" Summer asked.

"This is Tristan," I introduced as I grabbed a bottle from the ground.

I took a sip before handing it to Tristan. He looked down at the bottle before looking at me.

"If you chicken out," I paused when he started to drink from the bottle.

I have no idea how long it was later but it was just before Vicki turned up with Jeremy which was cool.

"Jared," I said getting his attention.

"What?" he asked as he looked over at me.

"You're the odd one out," I said before I lied back onto Tristan's chest.

I was sitting on his lap and he had his arm around my waist. I had nothing wrong with this because we weren't really friends anymore. We have gone past that stage and I don't think being friends would have really worked for us.

"Where are you taking me?" I heard.

At first I had no idea who it was but it figured out it soon.

"We can't hide out in your room all the time. Welcome to my other favourite party place," Vicki said.

"What, the cemetery?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah, it's cool," Vicki replied.

"Hey, J," I said as he looked over at me.

He looked up at Tristan for a second before smiling slightly at me.

"You babysitting, Donovan," Jared asked.

"This is Jeremy. He's cool," Vicki said.

He is pretty cool for my best friend.

I passed out for a bit but I fell asleep on Tristan's chest which was comfortable. When I woke Jeremy, Vicki and everyone were arguing and Jeremy was leaving.

I pushed Tristan's arm away and went after Jeremy after Vicki went after him. I knew what just happened but I can't remember what was said. It was about something to do with Elena and pain medication, I think.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad," Vicki said.

"Well what are we doing partying in a cemetery with a bunch of losers?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm not a loser," I said which is ignored.

"Those are my friends."

"They're waste-of-space, small-town lifers," Jeremy said.

I was shocked by this.

"Yeah, what am I?" Vicki asked.

"You're different, Vick," Jeremy said.

"No, you are. You're the kid with the big house who's acting out because his parents died. Guess what, you'll get over it. You'll pull yourself together, move on and one day tell your kids stories about your dark period growing up. And I'll still be here waiting tables at The Grill, partying at the cemetery with a bunch of waste-of-space, small-town lifers," Vicki said.

Jeremy tried to comfort her and I was little hurt that he got rejected.

"Go home, Jeremy. If I wanna feel like crap about myself, I'll just go back to Tyler," Vicki said before she stormed past me and back to the party.

Jeremy looked at me before he turned and walked away.

"Jeremy, wait up," I said.

I caught up to Jeremy but he didn't want to say anything so we walked in silence. At that point I had forgotten all about Tristan who was asleep as far as I knew because it was way too easy to get out of his grip.

We were almost halfway to Jeremy's house when he stopped walking and turned to me.

"What are you even doing there?" he asked.

"I didn't want to go to the car wash thing," I replied.

"So you would rather get stoned in a cemetery?" he asked.

I thought about it quickly.

"Yeah," I replied.

"It's not you, you wouldn't party in a cemetery with your boyfriend in cemetery," he said.

"How would you know what if this is me, we only become friends after your parents died and that's not long enough for you to know me and he's not my boyfriend, yet," I said.

"Then tell me why you were really there?" he asked.

I thought about quickly but the only answer I could come up with was the incident with the old guy from The Grill the other night.

"I went there today because I wanted too and just because you got kicked out doesn't me I had to leave," I said before I turned and headed back to the party.

* * *

_Tristan's POV…_

I woke and instantly noticed that Val was gone and the guy known as Jeremy was also gone. I sat up and looked around to see if they just moved while I passed out.

Eventually I got to my feet when I heard something that wasn't normal. I found myself walking through the forest which was part of the cemetery but wasn't at the same time.

I continued to walk until I heard something all too familiar.

Suddenly I went flying backwards until I slammed into a tree. In front of me there was a girl with vampire fangs as she snarled out me.

"That's not funny Roseanne," I said.

She made the vampire fangs and her vampire face disappear before she smiled at me.

"It was funny to me," she replied.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm here because I can be and I came to see if your dead yet," she said.

"I just talked to last night, do you really think that I would die that quickly?" I asked.

"It wouldn't surprise me."

We smiled at each other before we hugged. Roseanne and I headed towards my car.

"Where are you staying?" I asked.

"In the lake house," she said.

"You better be careful," I warned.

"I am but if you would just give me," Roseanne said as her hand twisted around my arm down towards my hand.

"You're not getting it," I said as I pulled my hand away.

"Come on," she pleaded.

"No," I said before I pulled with the ring on my hand.

Eventually Roseanne tricked me into driving her to the lake house she was staying in. I mainly let her trick me because I didn't to know which lake house it was. It wouldn't be important at this moment but later it would.

* * *

_Val's POV…_

As I walked towards the cemetery I couldn't help talk to myself about how I should have responded to Jeremy's question.

"I went to the party because I wanted to distract myself from an odd incident that happened at The Grill with this old guy. He was all like 'I know you' and I was thinking 'what the hell is this?' I've never met him and it was all very odd," I said.

I noticed that someone was jogging towards me but I didn't stop talking to myself.

"I already know I'm crazy but when an old man that I don't know starts to think I'm someone he knows when I've never met him that's when things get weird," I said as they jogged past me.

"Weird much," they said to themselves.

"I heard that," I yelled at them. "If you think I'm the weird one, you're crazy because you're jogging at night!" I yelled.

They just shook their head and continued to jog away.

"That's right," I said to myself pretending to be tough.

* * *

_**AN: I really hope you don't hate me for changing how Elena finds out about the attack in 1953. I just had to work Val in there and that was the best way. If you, the readers, are smart enough you'll be able to figure out what happens in the next chapter.**_


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